One of the taglines for this sequel: Worlds Will Collide. When the master control program from the highly sophisticated digital landscape of a corrupt corporation is brought to the real world on a dangerous mission. As a being of artificial intelligence’s first encounter with humankind in the organic world changes the way each is viewed by the other.
Tron: Ares is the third feature film in the franchise that builds on the look and sound of the second film while expanding on the the ideas touched on in the original film with seeds planted for a possible fourth film. Joachim Rønning does a solid directing job by tweaking certain designs from previous films and the way they interact with the real world in an imaginative manner. The screenplay by Jesse Wigutow from the story by David DiGilio & Wigutow based on the characters by Steven Lisberger & Bonnie MacBird is able to introduce new aspects to the lore established in other media of the franchise from the films, animated series, video games and theme park ride. The music provided by Nine Inch Nails is a driving score that helps give the film a feeling of agency that band members Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross are well known for. Greta Lee as Eve Kim is a protagonist who is easy to follow with Jodie Turner-Smith as Athena being a force of nature in her villainy, but I wish Gillian Anderson & Jeff Bridges were used more. Evan Peters as the villainous nepo-baby Julian Dillinger is an antagonist that is easy to root against with Jared Leto as the titular Ares being a character who you want to see succeed once they saw the side they should be on, but it sad that Bruce Boxleitner is not in the cast making this a Tron movie without Tron. For those who enjoy this particular Disney franchise there is enough here to fuel your future fanfic stories until the sequel manifests a decade or more from now. I rate this sequel a rating of 3 & 1/2 out of 5.
P.S.
In a mid-credits scene we see Julian Dillinger materialize in the digital world of the damaged Dillinger Grid where on touching a vintage identity disc he seems to be merged with Sark, a program created by his grandfather.
