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It’s all very throwback-y, and up to a point it’s meant to be. At the time of the first Tron, computer games in the real world hadn’t progressed far beyond Space Invaders – and while the film made some use of computer animation, the special effects were largely reliant on more traditional techniques, including handpainting the glowing circuitry frame by frame.
Technical limitations and all, the result has worn oddly well. Indeed, you could make a strong case that the original Tron looks much more awesome than anything in Tron: Ares, for all the work cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth has put into recreating the magic of the original.
Where the first film was a genuine departure from anything that had come before, we now seem stuck in a closed circuit, where past and future are hard to tell apart. The distinction between the virtual world and the physical one likewise remains largely theoretical – and unlike in the comparable Matrix films, this doesn’t appear to be the point.
Where the script allows, Lee does what she can to convince us that Eve is capable of recognisable emotions like grief and insecurity. But she and Ares seem like two of a kind, both far removed from the realm of ordinary people – who rarely appear on screen at all, beyond a couple of comic sidekicks working for ENCOM, and the odd baby or convenience store clerk whose role is to look on in mute bemusement.