Tron (1982) Review

“It only thinks it’s happening”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When we find life out of the unordinary, we have to appreciate all the more because it'll be unlikely to see it replicated.


PLOT


1982's Tron follows software engineer Kevin Flynn who was once employed by the technology corporation ENCOM. Now running a video game arcade, he attempts to hack into the company's system with his own program, Clu. The plan doesn't last when his program is deleted by a Master Control Program. When ENCOM programmer Alan Bradley and his girlfriend, engineer Lora Baines, discover that access to past projects have been closed off, he confronts senior executive vice president Ed Dillinger who claims it's for the sake of stopping outside hacking. When he leaves the office, Dillinger realizes the MCP is expanding to a powerful virtual intelligence to increase its own capabilities. It even threatens to blackmail him of plagiarism, knowing that he's been presenting Flynn's games as his own. Alan & Lora later see Flynn himself, who admits he's been hacking into ENCOM lately, hoping to find evidence of what Dillinger has done. This leads to them breaking into the building at night and unlock Alan's own program, Tron, meant to counter the functions of the MCP. Before Flynn could look any further for what he needs, the MCP is able to digitize and upload him into ENCOM's gaming grid with an experimental laser. In the grid, other programs like Tron are entities and humans like Flynn are dubbed Users. Alongside the MCP, a second in command named Sark has been coercing other programs to renounce their beliefs of Users and force the resistance to compete in deadly games. Flynn does get forced into one of the games he created, a racing type named Light Cycle, and as he uses his skill to survive, he befriends Tron and another program named Ram (Dan Shor). With said skill, the three escape together but get separated due to being followed by a pursuit party. As Ram dies of fatal wounds, Flynn discovers he can manipulate portions when accessing programmer knowledge. As he moves forward, he disguises himself as one of Sark's soldiers and rebuilds a broken vehicle. Elsewhere, Tron enlists help from a sympathizer program named Yori and they rejoin Flynn with a hijacked sailer heading towards the core of the MCP. Sark captures Flynn & Yori when crashing into them with his command ship, but Tron is able to escape, making the enemy mistake him to be dead. When Sark later reaches the core, he sees MCP absorbing other programs that could be useful. Tron is able to follow and injure Sark, which forces MCP to give him all its functions. When Flynn distracts it at the beam, Tron is able to destroy the powerful program with a delete reaction command that also kills Sark and free all captured programs to communicate with users again. When Flynn is freed & returned to his world once rematerialized, he gets his evidence and publicizes it by morning. The film ends with him taking over as ENCOM’s CEO, celebrating with Alan & Lora.


THOUGHTS


With the 80s being looked at as the most creative era of storytelling due to so many vast original ideas, you would forget a few things that came out post-Star Wars. Walt Disney took a big gamble making a video game based movie and while it’s easy to point out the one thing that has aged out is the glowy costumes in the grid, but director Steven Lisberger & cowriter Bonnie Macbird succeed in crafting an inventive tale. Apart from what I said with the costumes, I’m still impressed with how the whole layout appears in terms of VFX and production design, you would start thinking you’re in the grid as well which is a great feeling of movie magic. What has made this flick so interesting to the point we got two sequels in the 21st century thus far is because the whole setting reflects how not only will technology remain a tool however it’s used, but it teaches us the importance to remain who you are when believing in something in terms of religion. If you believe you have a god that looks over you the way a user is unintentionally that case for a sentient program, then it is harmless to believe in your own god as long as you remain true to yourself. The fact the programs share the facial similarities of users represent how there is always a piece of god in us should there be one. You can jokingly say this is the excuse to keep the cast condensed, but it does express the big connection we make with technology in a broader sense and both sides of the coin really hammer in this movie’s purpose. Jeff Bridges makes such an ideal protagonist out of Kevin Flynn because he’s the kind of visionary you want to look up to, casually optimistic in what he can do and determined to protect what is his, as he makes it his purpose to give joy to others with the games he makes. Although Clu wasn’t as brave as him, he was still a loyal confidant because he trusts his maker’s intentions which is all we can do as we get older. On the other hand, both Bruce Boxleitner & Cindy Morgan are able to ensure Tron & Yori are one and the same when being compared to their users, Alan & Lora. Why? They’re both principled and dedicated in wanting a better tomorrow, knowing that controlling the narrative doesn’t make the preferable progress, thus making it easy for them to align with Flynn. The second their user counterparts let him inside ENCOM easily sealed the deal fate was bound to restored due to how strong trust was made between them and while no one expected the fallout within the sequels, the decisions made here were worth it. I also want to give a shoutout to Barnard Hughes as ENCOM’s co founder Walter Gibbs and the guardian program Dumont. Equally, they stood out for being wise & outspoken enough to admit some things were better left alone, hence being against the purpose of MCP. Enter David Warner who arguably makes a great villain that is triple layered. As Dillinger, he is a businessman too ambitious for his own good that he steals from the far more talented. As Sark, he embraced his user’s ruthless in a more physical than metaphorical sense and as the voice of MCP, its constant gain of intelligence arrogantly leads to the belief that being a dictator solves all problems until proven otherwise. Although the sequels gave us more complex threats, this was still a fine example good can still conquer the consistency of evil with its various strengths. This movie definitely has its levels of fun that are made, but there are still other things that hold it back from being better storywise. For instance, if the MCP is rounding up programs from other corporations, how have those said corporations not noticed already? If something essential like a personal property of program is missing, that's something to investigate immediately. Another thing, does Flynn get to talk to Clu the same way he did with MCP before he got sucked in? I half to ask since they respond to each other very fast where I don't even know if it's really just him typing instructions. And if Clu is identical to Flynn, it should've been easier for MCP to narrow down who's been hacking into the system. Also, it is kinda on Flynn for using a company computer to set up his program, knowing the history is gonna get checke and he's lucky Dilinger & MCP didn't try erasing the evidence before he got sucked in. Luck is even taken too far with the fact not one camera notices him sneak into the building let alone the security don't notice the door being left open. On top of that, none of the security henchmen hear Flynn knock out one of them behind their backs. He hit him hard so that is insane obliviousness. Ignore these flaws however, then you will still appreciate Disney’s Tron as a sci fi flick that knew how to be inventive at its time and pave the way for a unique future of filmmaking. If sci fi is your jam, check this out.