SYNOPSIS: Kevin Flynn tells his son about the great things he is doing in the Grid before he disappears one night to never return. It is 20 years later, and his son, Sam Flynn, is grown up with no interest in running ENCOM (the company that his father built). Sam plays the yearly prank on the company when his father's business partner Alan tells him about being paged by Kevin from the Flynns arcade (and the phone line has been disconnected for 20 years). Sam goes to Flynns Arcade to investigate and he gets transported into the cyberspace world of the Grid run by his father's digital self, Clu. Sam finds out Clu has taken over the Grid and is planning to invade the real world from the digital world. He reunites with his father with the help of a warrior named Quorra (she dreams of seeing the real world). Can they work together to stop Clu?

ANALYSIS: TRON LEGACY is a fitting sequel that respects the original film while improving on it in parts. It is a visual spectacle with a cool electronic score by DAFT Punk. The story is about fathers and sons. It is also about finding direction and facing the legacies you create. It also paints Kevin Flynn as a changed man who is more powerful than he was in the first TRON. Jeff Bridges has his work cut out in a dual role as Flynn and his digital creation Clu. Bridges brings more acting ability to the film and wisdom to the character of an older Kevin Flynn. Olivia Wilde nails it as the child-like warrior who will protect while wanting to see the outside world. She is hungry to see Sam and Kevin's world while Clu wants to control it.

The action is incredible and I wonder how they will do a sequel to this one because they want to do a trilogy. Joseph Kosinski blows me away with an impressive feature film debut as a director (and he has went on to direct other great popcorn flicks like OBLIVION, TOP GUN MAVERICK, and F1.

TRON LEGACY is light years ahead in digital effects technology even though the first TRON was the birth of digital effects aka CGI. On a visual level, it is as impressive as AVATAR and yet it has a better script. TRON LEGACY improves on the look of the first film (which used crude CGI compared to today's films). I can't wait to see this movie again. TRON LEGACY does bring exposure of TRON to a new audience.

TRON LEGACY is light years ahead on the story too. After seeing the original TRON before watching the sequel again, I see TRON does kinda drag in the first half before being redeemed in the second half. Still the sequel does have parallels with the first film in various ways and twist the ways things played out in the first film to make it fresh for the sequel. I like how the Grid isn't seen until Sam Flynn enters it where you get spoiled by the Grid in the first one before Kevin Flynn is dragged in. Also the sequel wisely focuses the narrative on inside the Grid where the original showed a little outside ten Grid while Kevin was in the Grid. Sam gets caught by the cops in the real world in the same way he is caught on the Grid.

Kevin Flynn reacts where Sam wants to make things happen. Kevin's reacting to things is his downfall when Clu decides to take over the Grid while Kevin has to save his son in the sequel when Sam decides to act impulsively. Clu is like the bad kid (who thinks too much about perfection)that Kevin didn't pay attention to enough while Sam is the good imperfect son that he was never around for (due to being trapped in the Grid). Also I'm curious if Kevin Flynn will die if he brings Clu back into him or could it create something new on the Grid. TRON LEGACY did make several times the amount TRON made and yet it didn't perform to Disney's expectations. TRON LEGACY and the epilogue FLYNN LIVES: THE NEXT DAY provides enough material and directions to explore. TRON ASCENSION (the planned sequel that was deep in pre-production before being canceled in 2015) would have been a direct sequel to TRON LEGACY that would have seen many of the characters return. Instead, we finally get an indirect sequel in 2025 called TRON ARES.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Extras on the blu-ray include
First Look trailer at the TRON: UPRISING animated series airing this summer on DisneyXD
VISUALISING TRON- a look at the fantastic production and costume design
INSTALLING THE CAST- the cast talks about their roles and working with each other

THE NEXT DAY: FLYNN LIVES- a ten minute epilogue/ companion piece to the film and then you get to unlock other videos related to it including a retro video game commercial for SPACE PARANOIDS
LAUNCHING THE LEGACY- how the film came about including the teaser trailer they filmed for San Diego Comic Con which lead to Disney green lighting the sequel
DISC ROARS- The Director records crowd noise and chants for the Disk Wars arena scenes in the film (at Comic Con)
DAFT PUNK music video for DEREZZED

Too bad the blu-ray is the same blu-ray they release about 15 minutes with no blu-ray down sample of the new transfer or featuring the trailers for the movie. The 4K doesn't even feature a 4K version of the San Diego Comic Con teaser (which is sadly only featured in the LAUNCHING THE LEGACY featurette and not by itself). What is also missing from this release is the 3D disc that was included with one of the original blu-ray releases of TRON LEGACY.

FINAL ANALYSIS: TRON LEGACY is my favorite of the TRON series as I think it expands on the lore of TRON and it is a better movie than either TRON or TRON ARES. Too bad we never got the original sequel to TRON LEGACY which would have been called TRON ASCENSION. It is nice to see a director approved transfer for the 4K UHD and it does look great. I wish Disney and Sony went further with this 4K release instead of just a new transfer on a 4K disc and new artwork. It feels lazy while presenting a new transfer with nothing else new (and not even a remastered blu-ray disc from the new transfer).

this bluray review is (c)10-23-2025 and 4-1-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com