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TRON: ARES
Director: Joachim Rønning Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Gillian Anderson, Arturo Castro, Hasan Minhaj, Jeff Bridges MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:59 Release Date: 10/10/25 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 9, 2025 It's amazing what a little color can do, even if it mostly is just one bright shade of red. Tron: Ares, the third installment in a franchise that mainly seems to care about trying to advance visual effects, is as much about the color red as it is any of its plot, which is thankfully simpler than the previous entries, or characters, who obviously exist just to keep the story going. Released in 1982, the first Tron felt like a demonstration of what the then-nascent field of computer animation could do, and its silly, nonsensical story made that goal very clear. The belated 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy had more convincing visual effects, of course, but it also possessed a color palette as bland as its story. This will certainly sound like damning with faint praise, but the look of this third entry is so bold, teetering along the line of becoming garish with its red neon lines and highlights, that the film is, well, always fascinating to observe. Sure, some of that interest is waiting for the color scheme to simply become too much, but somehow, it never does. Director Joachim Rønning and his design team are smart enough to balance the abundance of that primary hue with the rich blacks of the story's digital world and the mostly nighttime backdrops of the real world's cityscape. The result is simple, straightforward, and surprisingly stimulating. Those first two descriptors could also be aimed at the story, which is a refreshing and welcome change of pace for this series. That Jesse Wigutow's screenplay hints at the third description with its eponymous character, an AI security program that discovers the digital equivalent of empathy, is also a bit of a surprise. Nothing about this is deep, to be clear, but after the routine of watching humans have adventures inside the world of a computer, the conceit of a digital character, made into a physical being, trying to see if and how it might fit in with the real world is both different and a logical extension of this franchise's ideas. The program is called Ares (Jared Leto), which was developed by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) as a way to heighten the security of his family's technology business. Those who know the previous movies will surely recognize the character's surname, shared with the villain of the first entry. This is that man's grandson, who is in a race against a corporate rival to find a "permanence code" that will allow those physical manifestations of digital programs to exist in the world longer than the 30 minutes or so that is currently possible. Essentially, Julian wants to create vehicles and weapons of war, as well as soldiers, that are completely expendable, because any lost unit can just be made again via an elaborate laser-based 3-D printer of sorts. In the digital realm, Ares can defend the company's systems and easily hack a rival's servers, but in the real world, the program and its cohorts would be essentially unstoppable in combat. Julian's only competition in the field is a tech company run by Eve (Greta Lee), a video game developer who is now continuing her late sister's work in printing more helpful things for humanity, such as food. She finds the permanence code, buried in the files of her gaming hero Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), and after Ares' hacking operation reveals to Julian that Eve has what he wants, the villainous CEO sends Ares and its right-hand program Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) to retrieve the code. Basically, this is just an excuse for a series of chases and other action, set within computers—of both modern and older generations, with the film replicating and fine-tuning the aesthetics of that second part—and through, as well as above, the streets of a city. The computer realm gives Rønning and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth plenty of freedom to move the camera through these virtual spaces, such as during that hacking sequence when Ares climbs some stairs that rise and flatten until he's walking up a wall. The more traditional action, aided by the programs' ability to form assorted vehicles and devices—from jetpacks to jet skis—around them with the touch of a button, is fairly dynamic, too, such as when Ares and Eve have to race across and under a digital sea in order to evade drones with trails of destructive light. There's not much more to the story than this, apart from Ares' crisis of a conscience that it never knew it possessed (Leto is understated but not dull in a role that easily could have been a drag). In a series that has unnecessarily burdened itself with convoluted plots and inexplicable lore, it's nice to be able to describe the narrative here in relatively painless terms. That a decent amount of the action sequences are set in real world leads to some striking sights, such as an overhead shot in which a pair of light-streaking motorcycles weave a deadly path around buildings. The hybrid industrial-techno rock score/soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails adds a driving musical force beneath the visuals, too. These are relatively simple pleasures, to be sure, but they are still pleasures in this streamlined, nearly standalone entry in the series (Anyone hoping for answers to the events of the previous movie will have to wait, apparently). Tron: Ares isn't trying or doing anything revolutionary, but as a showcase of vibrant effects, the film does just enough. Copyright © 2025 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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