The 80's Goes Digital: Tron

Tron, made in 1982, was inspired by Pong (remember Pong?!). It has at least one sequel, a television series, and several video game spin offs (naturally). According to Wikipedia, the film, which is considered groundbreaking, has inspired several individuals in numerous ways. John Lasseter, head of Pixar and Disney's animation group, described how the film helped him see the potential of computer-generated imagery in the production of animated films stating that "without Tron there would be no Toy Story."

KATE SAYS so I didn't see this movie in the 80's! And I initially watched the wrong version for this review--Tron Legacy, which means for about ten minutes, I was REALLY REALLY impressed by the special effects. I kept thinking, "I don't remember the 80's being this good!"

The camera work, more than the special effects, began to puzzle me followed by the clothing, but the real give-away was Bruce Boxleitner's age. (I've seen way too many Scarecrow & Mrs. King episodes not to know when that guy is getting older.) I did enjoy the film, so I was looking forward to Tron Classic although I reminded myself that the special effects would be considerably less Matrix-y.

The Tron Classic special effects are not, in fact, completely awful; the documentary on the Tron Classic DVD extols the movie's unusually prescient vision of the future, and I agree; I remember 1982! What impresses me most about Tron Classic's special effects is their clean, linear lines. This was the era of dot-matrix, but the effects don't look dotty (see Pong above). The documentary mentioned that the movie didn't get awarded for its computer-generated effects because the Academy Awards' members thought that the special effects crew for Tron "cheated" by using computers, which would be proof--if I needed it--that the Academy Awards' members are idiots. (But I already knew that.)

What I found far more disconcerting than the special effects was the "plot." A number of events in Tron Legacy gained context once I watched Tron Classic, such as the relationship between the programs and their attitudes towards "users." Mostly, I was misled by Tron Legacy's "backflashes" that I assumed were from the original; it was terribly disconcerting to realize that they weren't (kudos to the make-up artists for making Jeff Bridges and Bruce B. look so young!).

Tron Legacy does have a more interesting narrative arc than Tron Classic although both movies spend far too much time exploring "the world".

I think this "exploring the world" tendency is the heritage of 80's movies. Like Tron, other 80's movies such as Terminator and Highlander created endlessly creative and usable worlds. These movies and their sequels suffer from a kind of "look at me, look at my cool world!" excessiveness. Where's the plot?!

Tron is admittedly more aggressive about this than the other two. There's only so long I can watch the "matrix" unwinding. I totally appreciate that Tron stunningly anticipated The Matrix. But . . . where's the plot?! And the character development?!

Still, there's something honorable about Tron-like movies. Somebody has to make them, so society can have a record of social change: art meets history. The Egyptians preserved their pharaohs' "lives" in pyramids; we preserve our moments of achievement and revolution through movies. Movies are much easier to access.

MIKE SAYS Tron was one of my stand-bys as a kid; whenever I went to my grandma's house, this was among my most common choices of what to watch.  Which is actually kind of funny, since I've long since realized that the movies I watched most often in my childhood were the ones I didn't understand, thus explaining why I watched Star Trek 5 so much (seriously, Shatner, what?!?!?!).  As such, I think Tron was way over my head:  hence my facination with trying to understand it.

Perhaps the biggest difference between movies of the 80's and the movies of today is the pacing: it's hard to find a movie these days with 45 minutes of set-up before anything really happens.  While Tron certainly tries to trim this down, the film really does take its time from plot point to plot point.

Despite this, I have to respect, even revere, the world that the film creates. This world is so compelling, in fact, that several cartoons, TV series, and movies have straight-up ripped off the plot in the years following Tron's release.  One of my favorites, Reboot, is so close I'm often surprised there was never a lawsuit.

The visuals of the film, while loud and cheesy by today's standards, are still pretty impressive in the sheer volume of effects. There is something shiny and flashy in nearly every scene and no doubt cost a fortune to make, even at the time.

This is actually my second viewing of Tron in the last year; I also watched it soon after the sequel came out on DVD. As groundbreaking as Tron was, I didn't truly appreciate some of the most iconic and memorable moments until I watched Legacy.  The callbacks and references to the first film are loving and fun, and even increase their enjoyability, which is outright unheard of for any sort of sequel or follow-up.

I enjoyed the sequel so much, in fact, that I usually tell people to watch both, as the complement each other so well.

While the original Tron is a masterpiece in many ways, it's also very tedious in some places.  As a prime example of the "sci-fi epic," Tron just isn't nearly as fun and exciting today as it used to be.  And, as a part of this list, it goes without saying that the film has an underlying strangeness that almost distracts from itself.    With discussions on techno-religion (which is then translated into ethics and philosophy in the sequel), Flynn's odd acceptance of the entire ordeal, the sentient world conquering computers, and some very interesting performances, Tron is so strange that surreal seems to be an understatement.

I think most of my love for Tron today is nostalgia more than anything else.  And even though I loved it as a kid, I decided to hold off on showing it to my 4 year old.  As a kid of the Pixar generation, I don't think he would be too impressed . . . and let's face it, bored kids lead to nothing but trouble.