Omss-Culture: Culturebox: Tron: Legacy



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movies Tron: Legacy I would rather be bombarded with neon Frisbees than watch this movie again. By Dana Stevens Posted Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010, at 7:21 PM ET The idea to make a sequel to the 1982 movie Tron--which was a hit neither with most critics nor with the public and which has amassed, at best, a campy cult following among a niche of gamers and sci-fi fans--is an arrogant overestimation of the original's value. The grandiose hype for *Tron: Legacy* (Disney Pictures) reminds me of those Manhattan "vintage" stores that try to trick you into paying $120 for a stained raincoat because, hey, it's old! Well, no, I don't want an expensive old raincoat that was unremarkable the first time around, nor do I want an expensive ($170 million) remodel of a 28-year-old matinee flick that was forgotten for a reason. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is the now-grown son of computer visionary Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who disappeared years before in the midst of working on a mysterious breakthrough in digital technology. While poking around his father's abandoned video-game arcade--a fun set that should have been put to more extensive use--Sam finds himself transported through some kind of cosmic wormhole into an all-digital alternate universe where, it turns out, Kevin Flynn has been trapped all these years. This universe is a dark, featureless place peopled by artificially-created beings in black suits with neon piping, who spend their days watching gladiatorial motorcycle fights and deadly games of Glo-Frisbee. Their dictatorial ruler, Clu, is played by some amalgam of present-day Jeff Bridges and his CGI-youthened face and body. Unlike many critics who found this technology visually creepy, I was actually pretty impressed by the film's ability to conjure a young Jeff Bridges--even when Clu was interacting with flesh-and-blood characters, his face looked surprisingly realistic and expressive. I just wish he had something notable to express. To continue reading, click here. Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic. E-mail her at slatemovies@gmail.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Weigel: How the GOP Learned To Hate Earmarks All Over Again Can America Beat China in the Race To Dominate Solar Power? Whoever Decided To Remake Tron Deeply Overestimated the Original's Value	Advertisement
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Now playing: *Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V* at www.slatev.com.
movies Tron: Legacy I would rather be bombarded with neon Frisbees than watch this movie again. By Dana Stevens Posted Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010, at 7:21 PM ET The idea to make a sequel to the 1982 movie Tron--which was a hit neither with most critics nor with the public and which has amassed, at best, a campy cult following among a niche of gamers and sci-fi fans--is an arrogant overestimation of the original's value. The grandiose hype for *Tron: Legacy* (Disney Pictures) reminds me of those Manhattan "vintage" stores that try to trick you into paying $120 for a stained raincoat because, hey, it's old! Well, no, I don't want an expensive old raincoat that was unremarkable the first time around, nor do I want an expensive ($170 million) remodel of a 28-year-old matinee flick that was forgotten for a reason. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is the now-grown son of computer visionary Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who disappeared years before in the midst of working on a mysterious breakthrough in digital technology. While poking around his father's abandoned video-game arcade--a fun set that should have been put to more extensive use--Sam finds himself transported through some kind of cosmic wormhole into an all-digital alternate universe where, it turns out, Kevin Flynn has been trapped all these years. This universe is a dark, featureless place peopled by artificially-created beings in black suits with neon piping, who spend their days watching gladiatorial motorcycle fights and deadly games of Glo-Frisbee. Their dictatorial ruler, Clu, is played by some amalgam of present-day Jeff Bridges and his CGI-youthened face and body. Unlike many critics who found this technology visually creepy, I was actually pretty impressed by the film's ability to conjure a young Jeff Bridges--even when Clu was interacting with flesh-and-blood characters, his face looked surprisingly realistic and expressive. I just wish he had something notable to express. To continue reading, click here. Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic. E-mail her at slatemovies@gmail.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Weigel: How the GOP Learned To Hate Earmarks All Over Again Can America Beat China in the Race To Dominate Solar Power? Whoever Decided To Remake Tron Deeply Overestimated the Original's Value	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters on Slate Unsubscribe \| Newsletter Center \| Advertising Information Please do not reply to this message since this is an unmonitored e-mail address. If you have questions about newsletters, please go here.
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to newsletters@slate.com. Copyright 2010 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC \| Privacy Policy Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive \| c/o E-mail Customer Care \| 1150 15th Street NW \| Washington, D.C. 20071

Culturebox: Tron: Legacy

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