{"id":201949,"date":"2025-10-10T05:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/201949\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T05:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:42:10","slug":"tron-ares-review-jared-leto-plays-a-soulful-ai-warrior-in-confusing-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/201949\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tron: Ares’ review: Jared Leto plays a soulful AI warrior in confusing sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If the cult techno sci-fi films \u201cTron\u201d<\/a> (1982) and \u201cTron: Legacy\u201d<\/a> (2010) were about humans going into the \u201cgrid\u201d of the digital world, then the newest installment in this franchise, \u201cTron: Ares,\u201d is about the digital world invading our own. Allegorically, this feels right for our particular moment, the film depicting AI super-soldiers wreaking a path of destruction through human cities, but despite the ethical questions the film presents, it still can\u2019t shake the franchise\u2019s enduring techno-optimism (or inevitability), even as it encourages getting \u201coffline.\u201d<\/p>\n

This iteration of \u201cTron\u201d is helmed by Norwegian director Joachim R\u00f8nning, with a screenplay by Jesse Wigutow. The Flynn men, Kevin (Jeff Bridges) and his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund, who starred in \u201cLegacy\u201d), are now out of the picture, and two warring tech companies are locked in an arms race for the future of artificial intelligence. Eve Kim (Greta Lee<\/a> of \u201cPast Lives\u201d<\/a>) is at the reins of the Flynns\u2019 company, ENCOM, while bratty upstart Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) runs Dillinger Systems under the watchful eye of his mother (Gillian Anderson).<\/p>\n

While Eve searches for a message from her late sister, an AI optimist who believed in the tech\u2019s possibility to improve human life, Julian is 3D-printing digital tanks and \u201cexpendable\u201d super-soldiers for investor presentations. Too bad these warriors\u2019 real-world lifespan is only 29 minutes. When he gets wind that Eve has located a \u201cpermanence code\u201d thanks to her sister\u2019s message, Julian sends his two best soldiers, Ares (Jared Leto<\/a>) and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), to retrieve the code by any means necessary.<\/p>\n

If the appeal of the original \u201cTron\u201d was its groundbreaking computer-generated imagery and forward-thinking concept, then the appeal of \u201cLegacy\u201d was its sleek sci-fi design and digital disco score by Daft Punk<\/a>, offering more of a vibes-based experience than an absorbing narrative. \u201cAres\u201d tackles more story, but the style is borrowed from \u201cLegacy,\u201d just with spiked colors \u2014 Dillinger\u2019s digital squadron is cloaked in menacing red neon \u2014 and a crunchy, industrial, sexy soundtrack for the action by Nine Inch Nails<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the plot itself is bitten from a tale over 200 years old, one that now seems a part of our primordial DNA, or at least the DNA of the stories we tell ourselves again and again. That is, of course, Mary Shelley\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein.\u201d<\/a> If the themes of creating a monster that starts to think on its own weren\u2019t clear enough, the book is directly referenced when Ares, stalking Eve, catches a glimpse of her reading it in a social media video. As he quickly processes the novel\u2019s content, a few lines make an impression. Ares is already starting to question things, like Julian\u2019s words about his soldiers being expendable and the deletion of a fellow \u201cprogram\u201d during a hacking mission. Combined with a new sensation, a \u201cfeeling\u201d when he experiences rain,Ares\u2019 system is primed to go rogue.<\/p>\n

Typically in sci-fi, AI gaining sentience means bad things for human beings. But as Eve posits in a televised interview, \u201cWhat if its major malfunction is benevolence?\u201d What \u201cTron: Ares\u201d suggests is that independent thinking can result in empathy. Meanwhile, following the rules is what results in death and destruction.<\/p>\n

With his searching but empty blue eyes, Leto is physically perfect for playing a questioning computer program, and Lee brings her steely presence to bear on Eve. Turner-Smith demonstrates her \u201cTerminator\u201d bona fides as well. But the problem with \u201cAres\u201d is the script, which spells out everything for us. There\u2019s no subtext, no room for interpretation or ambiguity, especially as it plays out like the scene of Frankenstein\u2019s monster discovering a daisy. Wouldn\u2019t it be more fun if we could uncover these themes on our own, without being prompted?<\/p>\n

R\u00f8nning, who helmed a \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d sequel and \u201cYoung Woman and the Sea,\u201d<\/a> provides serviceable direction of the material, without offering much innovation. The film loses focus toward the end when it becomes a crashy, pixelated monster movie, the real world having no capability for hosting the sleek, bloodless appeal of the grid.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, \u201cTron: Ares\u201d lands on the diplomatic argument that AI is only as good as the person wielding it, but doesn\u2019t offer answers on how to ensure that (aside from a big old battle). But furthermore, it can\u2019t answer the question that stumps all AI evangelists: Why try to make AI more human when we can just be human ourselves?<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s too much to ask of a sci-fi movie that should be more about style than substance. All \u201cTron: Ares\u201d needed to be was a mood, but it delivers existential questions that are pre-chewed pablum rather than searching moral quandaries.<\/p>\n

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.<\/p>\n

‘Tron: Ares’<\/p>\n

Rated: PG-13, for violence\/action<\/p>\n

Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes<\/p>\n

Playing: In wide release Friday, Oct. 10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the cult techno sci-fi films \u201cTron\u201d (1982) and \u201cTron: Legacy\u201d (2010) were about humans going into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[62,27387,99341,49,48,99344,75,99342,1554,99343,4708,69025,99345,12289,32619,337,23365,17838,4707],"class_list":["post-201949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ai","tag-appeal","tag-ares","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dillinger-systems","tag-entertainment","tag-eve-kim","tag-film","tag-glowing-style","tag-jared-leto","tag-julian","tag-late-sister","tag-legacy","tag-message","tag-movies","tag-tech-company","tag-thing","tag-tron"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}