3.09.2010

Tron Legacy



There is a new trailer for the film which calls itself Tron Legacy. I say "the film which calls itself Tron Legacy" because if the word "Tron" were not part of the title, one may certainly not think it had anything to do with the classic film from the 80s set in the world within circuitry and microchips. Though the trailer is rather vague about the story, intentionally so as this is just a teaser trailer, the obvious point of the footage shown is to sell the world of Tron. In this regard, all visuals seem to say that the creators have missed the mark. The attempt to deliver a more realistic interpretation of the Tron-verse only betrays the nature of the film itself. Can the audience be transported to a unique world when so much of it is so similar to the one they occupy? The production design is certainly exquisite...for an extrapolated vision of the future, but does not necessarily lend itself to what Tron is (or should) be. Sadly, the trailer gives a glimpse of characters in obviously rubber suits with lighted trimmings; of light cycles kicking up rain rooster tails in the night; of Recognizers that appear to be futuristic construction equipment; of a "Tron car" creating billows of smoke as it performs burn outs; of characters riding up fiberglass-like elevators to the game platform; of a Tron apartment decorated with very familiar looking furniture; of a girl lounging on a sofa with a trendy off-the-shoulder outfit. This is not Tron. They may want you to think it is, but it is not. The film may have Bruce Boxleitner and Jeff Bridges, playing both an old & young (the film's best special effect) Flynn, but it is not Tron.

Tron is a world of light, data, apps, programs, electricity, bytes, bit streams, etc. The audience need not, and should not, connect to the real world. Our physics do not apply there. Our mechanics don't work there. Our textiles and materials do not belong there. Unfortunately, the filmmakers have decided to bring Tron closer to the film-goer's imagination, instead of taking them to a place beyond it, which is what a film like this should be doing. Right?

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