TRON: Ares

Last night my nephew and I went to an early access screening of TRON: Ares in IMAX and I had so much fun watching it!  Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), the CEO of Dillinger Systems, and Eve Kim (Greta Lee), the CEO of ENCOM, both have access to a generative laser that can reproduce digital structures in the real word.  Dillinger wants to militarize this technology, much to the dismay of his mother Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson) who wants to regain control of the company, and creates a highly sophisticated program known as Ares (Jared Leto) that can be used in battle while Kim wants to use it to solve world hunger and creates an orange tree.  However, the technology is in the early stages and anything created with it degenerates in 29 minutes.  Kim eventually finds a Permanence Code created by Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), the former CEO of ENCOM, and Dillinger will do anything to get it from her.  He sends Ares and another program named Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) to the real world to capture the code but, when Kim destroys it, they bring her to the grid to extract it from her memory.  Complications ensue when Ares decides to ignore his directive and protect Kim and when Athena decides to do whatever is necessary to complete it.  When I walked into the theater, I was hoping for mind-blowing visuals, an epic score, a story that made sense, and a performance from Leto that wasn't too weird and I definitely got all of that!  We saw this in 3D and I absolutely loved all of the dynamic chase sequences, especially when Ares and Athena are trying to capture Kim in the real world and when Ares and Kim are trying to evade Athena in the digital world because the trails of light are absolutely dazzling, and the final confrontation between Ares and Athena because it is so striking to see the competing red and blue lights on their suits.  I also loved that when Dillinger hacks into the ENCOM server it is portrayed by having Ares and the rest of the programs physically break in to the digital structure.  I am a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails and the score is so propulsive that I could hardly take a breath.  I think the techno-synth music really emphasizes the tension between the digital world and the real world.  The story is so much better than I was expecting and I found the comparisons to Frankenstein, particularly when Ares rebels against his creator and discovers his humanity, to be very thought-provoking.  Finally, I really enjoyed the performances from everyone in the cast, especially Lee.  Leto is not my favorite actor but his surprisingly restrained delivery really works for the character and it often provides a bit of comic relief as Ares learns about the real world (I loved the running bit about his love for Depeche Mode).  This was everything I hoped it would be and I had an absolute blast watching it with my nephew!  I recommend it to fans of the franchise.