Tron:Legacy

As you can probably tell if you read my last post, I've been hotly anticipating the release of Tron:Legacy in IMAX 3-D. I'm a sucker for monstrously expensive popcorn entertainment, especially the variety that envelops you in a fantastical world and manages to be emotionally satisfying (well, at least in a moderate sense) while also being visually thrilling. At this jaded stage in my life, it's of the utmost importance that when I spend 30$ for my son and myself to see a 4PM showing, I feel something. I want my breath to be taken away once or twice. I want to genuinely laugh. I want to grow to truly like characters and become invested in the success of their (admittedly ill defined) endeavors. I want tears to well up in my eyes at the overpowering sound and fury of the climax. I want to leave the theater feeling wrung out, yet wanting more. Tron:Legacy delivered on all these criteria.

I mean, I'll go sit through a Transformers movie, or any of these middling superhero properties Marvel is throwing at the back of the theater wall to see which will stick. I just probably won't like them due to the callous manner in which they ingratiate with blustery origin stories, crass, regressive humor and predictable iconography. I enjoy being entertained as much as I enjoy subtext hunting and navel gazing. Hell, I loved Prince of Persia and found Clash of the Titans to be a rollicking, shiny good time. I just need films like this to maintain a sense of wonder and relish in being transported to a time when I was young and wanted to be swept away in such fanciful stories. I'm a father now and the main joy of film for me is imparting the appreciation of it to my son as my father did with me. I'll never forget sitting next to my dad as the likes of Dune, T2, Predator, Robocop and a million others unspooled before my wide eyes. Seeing Tron with my son brought back those memories and fulfilled the next chapter in my cinematic circle of life.

I won't make this a review that endlessly, self-righteously complains about the incoherency of the script or hypothesizes about where the rewrites and re shoots came into play. I will say that I bought the Daft Punk soundtrack a week before the film came out and my son and I listened to it over and over, talking about our favorite tracks and guessing where they would feature in the movie. It was a great primer for the sleek, digital world of the film and it was an invaluable tool to open up the world of cinema to my son so he could understand that movies were a multi layered art form that brought to bear the talents of many artists, all working toward a shared goal utilizing their specific talents. The soundtrack is brilliant. On the IMAX it rumbled and pulsated and glided through my synapses and nervous system. It is the cold, detached funky heartbeat that gives the film life. I suppose I could be either congratulated or condemned that my 9 year old leaned over and whispered to me his recognition of the Daft Punk cameo and quietly enthused how cool that was to him! This is the foundation of film geek building. He's seeing beyond the instantaneous gratification of the finished product to the intricate world behind its creation. One day, he can cultivate a successful marriage of those two fascinations, as I feel I have. Considering my ability to read spoiler and invective filled reviews of Tron:Legacy, yet still react to it with the excitement of a child, I think I'm capable of weathering the storm of Internet conjecture and fanboy entitlement and coming out on the other side relatively unscathed.

It's not hard with a film as flat out cool and fun as Tron:Legacy. The action is breathtaking, the 3-D works to create a fully realized world as opposed to post conversion money grab gimmick and the visual palette is clearly realized without becoming stale and repetitive. Simply put, this was a world I wanted to live in, and like Lynch's Arrakis before it, I look forward to revisiting and getting lost in it again in the future. The performances were all great. I thoroughly enjoyed Hedlund as the lead, he was charismatic and easy to root for. Olivia Wilde is as energetic and likable as she is unnaturally beautiful and Jeff Bridges is as he always is. Pure gold. He plays Flynn as we want him to play him. He's the dude, but when an emotional moment is required, he steps up to the plate and knocks it out of the park. His last minute onscreen is mesmerizing. Through sheer force of his talent and craft, he is able to find the core of the films father and sons life lesson and wordlessly overpower millions of dollars of effects work to make this fantastical story relatably human. I was, in a word, devastated.

So yeah, don't listen to 24 year old misanthropes in their moms basement telling you how the studio system works. Some very talented artists were given a ton of money to produce some mind blowing art. Go give it a chance and allow yourself to be caught up in your youthful naivete and childish exuberance for the possibilities of film.