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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even dance clubs); one even emits a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.