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The matrix of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might want to administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even emits a lethal beam which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.