Tron and Tron: Legacy - re:View

For anyone in the Chicago area, the Music Box Theatre will show Tron in 70mm next month: https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/the-music-box-70mm-film-festival-2020 At a time when 8-bit graphics were pushing the technology, I was at least partly enthralled because I hadn't realized that computers could create whole environments and even characters for a movie to unfurl in. But I was also enthralled because I was 14, and 14-year-olds aren't always too smart.

Kurt

None of their videos are Patreon exclusives except for behind the scenes stuff they post for the higher Patreon tiers.

Is this re:View just a patreon exclusive? the main RLM page is still showing Wicked World as the last update

Matt P

It's pronounced "Killian," like the beer. Just sayin'.

punctuator

This was an interesting Re:view at the start because Jack and Jay were trashing the original Tron a little bit. So I was like, "Why are Tron and Tron: Legacy a Re:View then?" But the longer I watched I understood why. It seems like Tron and Tron: Legacy were both interesting failures, at least from Disney's perspective. You can have these really creative elements and artists put in a lot of love and energy, but it just fails with the general audience.

AllGoodNamesRGone

It is kind of amazing how long this franchise has lasted while being so middling in every metric used to measure film success, coming up on 40 years now.

I saw the original in the same theatre that I saw Empire, Jedi, and that other Disney masterpiece - Condorman!

Gordon Chapman-Fox

"The film that started nothing!" raves Jay Bauman.

Lauren R

He practically looked and acted like Bowie, so it's understandable.

Mattwerx

I was going to make a similar comment if no one else had, defending Wendy Carlos's score. Even beyond the really cool synthesis of electronic and orchestral elements, which was done in such a way that it was sometimes difficult to tell what was synthesized and what wasn't, Carlos also intended to compose the music in unusual time signatures (lots of 5s and 7s) to emphasize the otherworldliness of the setting. And despite that, the motifs she wrote were fantastic and memorable!

Betulaphobe

I have a high affinity for Tron, I still really like it and I like that nothing else looks like it. I grant that it is slow. I don't think it's "about" Flynn trying to prove his software was stolen. That is just how it starts. That's like saying Fury Road is "about" Max being jumped by the War Boys.

Jesse Johnson

i have the weirdest strong memory of david bowie being in this movie, as the michael sheen character, and my mind is blown that this memory is false.

Ryan Lind

You guys and your butchering of Irish names! Silly-Ann Murphy. Dom-ha-nawl Gleeson...

Declan

As a kid I always laughed at Jeff Bridges’ line (paraphrasing) about how he wrote Space Paranoids and Dillinger (not so smart) wrote MCP. The guy who created AI was not as smart as the guy who created a video game. 🙄

Mike St Louis

One of my favorite scenes from Legacy is actually a deleted scene showing Cillian Murphy's character speaking (really texting) with the MCP. It would have been the perfect after credit scene - I've always wonder why it was cut since Disney was wanting to do a sequel with it at the time.

Sarzac

I have seen Tron on German TV in the 80s and with C64 vector graphics in mind the motorcycle game in the computer looked actually pretty awesome to me. I was fascinated by the idea of a world inside a computer which was build, written and controlled by someone outside of the computer, but was also somewhat independent from the programmer outside. And that was it. I have never thought about Tron again until today.

Marvin Falz

I was 7 and I can relate to what you are saying. This, Star Wars, The Black Hole that they touched on here also from Disney, these were all epic in my 80s child world. Pre-internet, pre-streaming, this had the feels of what everything in the 80s told us was just around the corner for us in the future. And while Blade Runner is technically on another level visually and has had a far greater stylistic impact on film for sure it’s also got plastic raincoats and glow stick ☂ s. While I still own my VHS copy of Tron and have the nostalgia, it’s easily arguably not a great film in its story or reception. I have never brought it up in conversation and had anyone join me in reminiscing about it so I do feel like Chief Wiggum’s embarrassed admission to seeing it and immediate retraction was a very accurate nod to those of us who remember it fondly.

Kim Luu

I was 10 years old when TRON came out and I saw it alone as a kid in the theater. I freaking loved it. I've had the soundtrack on vinyl since 1982 and listen to it regularly. I had never seen anything like it before and it blew me away. It was so immersive, especially for the time. It reminded me of old movies like The Fantastic Voyage where you are thrown into a world that you would occasionally day dream about. In this case a computer world instead of the human body. I don't think Jay or Jack have taken into account of where video games and computers were at the time. TRON was actually very unique and ahead of its time. No one at the time believed programs could ever possibly have personalities or avatars. I think it holds up for its uniqueness. It is literally the only film in movie history to be made using that type of backlight animation. Personally I think its beautiful, Jack. I do agree that the opening set up to the world is completely misplaced but once it gets going and Flynn is in the world its imaginative and fun. And you can't really compare how it holds up with Blade Runner. They are apples and oranges. I think TRON holds up for its uniqueness and it was never intended to be a franchise. It was a game changer for a lot of people at the time regardless of how it's viewed now by people that weren't around at the time of its release. I found Legacy mostly dull, although very pretty to look at. But the visuals were not all that impressive with today's technology. It feels like it could have gone a lot farther with the look if they had been more creative. Very dark and foggy all the time for some reason. The Daft Punk soundtrack was always very overrated to me. I didn't find it very inspiring, but it's not bad. But worst of all is the CGI Jeff Bridges. Worst uncanny valley ever and a complete distraction. Why bother? This review is rather baffling and probably one of least favorite. They seem mostly indifferent overall. Meh

WRT Tron the character, he has his little T emblem on his suit throughout the film as Rinzler, so I think its entirely intentional that hes Tron. I think they were smart enough to understand what most people knew about "Tron" at the time was either nothing at all or that it was that dorky visual effects movie. People who know Tron is a character would have been a tiny fraction of the audience. The character Tron also has a much larger role in the spinoff prequel cartoon Tron Uprising. Its possible they didn't think about it until part way through production, but Rinzler being the ultimate form of Clus corruption of the grid seems to fit pretty well. Also, you should watch the cartoon cause its generally pretty good and has some top notch voice talent.

I completely agree that Daft Punk's score for "Tron: Legacy" is the superior score, but I think Jay and Jack are completely wrong in slamming Wendy Carlos' score for the original "Tron". Her score is fantastic and much more groundbreaking in how it wasn't just an electronic synthesizer score, but combined synthesizers with an actual symphony orchestra at a time when the technical aspects of doing so were much more difficult than they were by the time of "Tron: Legacy". And Daft Punk themselves were such fans of Wendy Carlos' original "Tron" score that they abandoned their more techno-dance music style (listen to the Remix album to get an idea of what that version of the score might have been like) for most of the score and adopted a synth + symphonic approach just like Carlos' original score. I remember some Daft Punk fans were disappointed by the "Tron: Legacy" score on release because it was so "orchestral" in nature and unlike their earlier music. (An article on this: https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/12/daft-punks-legacy-act.html )

DonMac

They also could have mentioned the porn parody "Pr0n"...

Manuel Johnen

I'm surprised Jay and Jack didn't mention that the TRON franchise is still being kept alive by Disney now in making it into a theme park ride. Because already there's a TRON Rollercoaster in China at Shanghai Disneyland and a copy of that ride is currently under construction in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida that will open in 2021. The rollercoaster is all the cool stuff from "Tron: Legacy" (the visual look, the sound effects, the Daft Punk music) without all the clunky stuff (the plot and characters). Here's a POV ride-through of the rollercoaster in China: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKeyE-J4jdQ&t ) So TRON's legacy is to live on from now on as an E-Ticket ride!

DonMac

Oh my gawd.

The action figure play was fantastic. “Tell me about 🍕!” Sad disc throw. “Aaaaa!”

Kim Luu

This is the longest I have ever heard anyone talk about Tron. Well done.

Amy Hitchner

Hey I recognize that one guy! He's from that Escapist video series! Small world

Adam K.

The original "Tron" from 1982 is an ambitious, badly aged failure of a movie that's godawful to look at today. "Tron: Legacy" however is an incredibly good looking, totally amazing sounding, irredeemable piece of shit.

Manuel Johnen

I Frickin LOVE Tron Legacy - probably my most fondly remembered and most watched film of the last 10 years. I hope you guys dont shit on it too much. I was never that keen on the original Tron though, despite it's groundbreaking CGI effects. Also, its good to see Jack back! I've enjoyed seeing him on The Escapist.

Andy

True but that Daft Punk soundtrack is worth it.

Gareth McMahon