Tron: Legacy - My Initial Thoughts

I just got back from seeing Tron: Legacy and I thought it was great!  For me, it was definitely worth the wait.

I think Joseph Kosinski's direction was solid.  The film is incredibly dynamic and constantly visually interesting.  He gets fantastic performances from Jeff Bridges and Michael Sheen.  Bridges does great work pulling double duty as Kevin Flynn and CLU and Sheen is fantastically over the top as Castor/Zuse.  I'll be really interested to see what Kosinski does with the remake of The Black Hole which is another favourite of mine.

The rest of the cast is quite good too.  I've been a Garrett Hedlund fan since Troy and Olivia Wilde is striking and fun as Quorra.  It was really great to have Bruce Boxleitner back as well.  I wish there was more for him to do.

Michael Wilkinson and his team did an amazing job on costuming and the massive design team did an equally amazing job bringing this strange new world to the screen.  This film is much darker than the original Tron; both visually and thematically.  I think that speaks to where we see ourselves as a society in 2010 versus where we saw ourselves in 1982.

I didn't really notice the 3D factor of this film.  That is to say, there were no gags--nothing popping out at you.  However, it did sort of enhance the computer world a bit.  I think the film would probably still look fantastic in 2D but for a few dollars more the 3D is probably worth it.

I've already written here about how much I love the Daft Punk score.  It works as well with the film as it does on its own.

Overall, I really enjoyed Tron: Legacy.  It's very different from the original film but its clearly made by people who respect and love the original.  It expands that amazing world that Steven Lisberger took us to almost 30 years ago.  I think fans of the original will enjoy the gravity of the story and enjoy seeing the updated designs of the computer world.  I think new viewers will find the film equally entertaining.  The door is certainly left open for more fantastic stories in both our world and the computer world.  I look forward to 2011's animated Tron series and I wouldn't be surprised if another live action sequel is announced in the next six months.

I definitely recommend that you get on the Grid and go see Tron: Legacy!

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