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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.