TRON: Films (1982—)

TRON (1982)

Dir. Steven Lisberger

If you're aged twelve, TRON is the best thing ever. It was visually mind-blowing in the '80s and despite the advances in technology since it still holds that same power today. The creativity and steps taken behind the scenes to make it unique earn it maximum respect.

Wendy Carlos' music fits the aesthetic and adds to it with equal amounts of strangeness.

Realistically, though, the protagonists are given just enough characterisation to prevent them from slipping into two-dimensionality, and the plot is wafer-thin in the second half.

But none of that matters because every time I watch it a singular part of me is still aged twelve and still believes that journeying inside an '80s video game is the best thing ever.

TRON: Legacy (2010)

Dir. Joseph Kosinski

A slick, neon-lit, hollow experience. It's like putting Christmas lights on a carcass.

The hinted at deeper meanings are glossed over, if indeed they ever existed as such in the first place. Who knows? There were so many writers involved and it’s still painfully predictable.

It's modern-day eye-candy that looks attractive until you realise the sugar topping is nothing but artificial sweetener added to hide flaws.

Perhaps today's kids will look on it as fondly as I do the original? I won't be around to find out.

To add further insult to injury, Daft Punk were hired to score it. It's as fitting as Wendy Carlos' music was to the original film, iykwim.