Tron

Tron, as a franchise, was incredibly influential. Despite exposure for the brand being surprising small with only a choice selection of content amongst different mediums to its name, Tron was a very important film that introduced some dramatic changes into the entertainment industry that shifted things forever. The film’s ground-breaking computer-generated imagery inspired Pixar to create Toy Story, music artists like Daft Punk and Gorillaz clearly pay homage to it through their work, and despite the film only being a moderate box office success (earning $50 million against a $17 million budget), its critic reception and long-lasting status allowed it to eventually become a cult classic and icon of pop culture, with everything starting back in 1980 with the titular film. Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) was a former software engineer for the computer corporation, ENCOM, who stole his idea for a video game and subsequently ousted him once said game made them extremely wealthy. Although he tries to find his proof of creation rights by hacking into the system, his plans are always thwarted by ENCOM’s Master Control Program (otherwise known as the MCP) who works with the senior executive vice president of the company, Ed Dillinger (played by David Warner), the man responsible for firing Flynn. After the MCP cuts off employee access to the mainframe system, programmer Alan Bradley (played by Bruce Boxleitner) and his girlfriend Lora (played by Cindy Morgan) go to Flynn, explain the situation, and agree to help him find the information he needs through Alan’s new security program, Tron, in order to set things right in the company. Once in the building, the MCP locates Flynn and digitally places him into the system, where he is placed alongside other programs who are forced to compete in life-threatening contests hosted by the MCP and his second-in-command, Sark (also played by David Warner) as a cruel game of execution for any rogue programs that doesn’t obey his rule. Flynn eventually meets up with the program Tron (also played by Bruce Boxleitner) and the two form a plan to escape the compound, travel to the tower hosting the MCP, and shut it down for good in order to get the proof of Flynn’s involvement as well as free the programs from the MCP’s control. Tron isn’t anything that special from a story or character perspective, but its distinct visual design and fun ideas and commentary have allowed it to remain relevant all these years later.

The video game element of this premise goes a lot deeper than you’d expect, as the director and creator for this story, Steven Lisberger, originally conceptualized this idea after being inspired by the popular video game, Pong, and witnessing the potential that could come from exploring the digital space, not just as a narrative focus, but from a visual perspective as well. Originally conceiving the project as an animated film with his collaborator, Donald Kushner, the two started to independently fund the project until computer scientist, Alan Kay, heard about their idea and told them to use CGI instead of hand-drawn animation. After going through several computer companies for financing and pitching their film to several film studios (all of which went unsuccessfully), Disney eventually picked them up since they as a studio wanted to make something different and fresh, and their combined efforts (despite some biting grudges being formed behind the scenes) led to the film’s completion. For the time period, this movie would’ve been unlike any other movie out at the time, as while CGI had been used in several big blockbuster movies, it hadn’t really been utilized to create an environment on this large a scale yet. Despite what would be believed, the story written by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird is fairly comprehensible, with an ex-employee trying to stick it back to the company that  betrayed him by getting the ownership of his creation back, but as soon as it enters the digital world, it takes on a whole new form, borrowing elements from familiar stories like Alice in Wonderland, and even contains sprinklings of religious subtext, bringing a mature edge to an otherwise straightforward ”fight-the-power” kind of narrative. The set up of a digital environment where physical programs exist as people, replicate the looks of their programmers, and even see humans (or users) as gods in their world, is a weighty complex idea, and through it, the film can explore topics like technological ingenuity, corporate greed, and the unknown fear of a growing form of intelligence adjacent to humanity which could eventually overtake it. It ironically doesn’t feel fleshed out enough to really explore these complex questions as the technology and even the world itself wasn’t really ready to explore these ideas as deeply as they could’ve been, so for a first time, the thoughts are there, and they are sound but aren’t really dissected. Being Lisberger’s first proper movie, the direction can be a little aimless and the narrative can be a little bare bone underneath the mountain of technological exposition and metaphorical examinations present within the script, but the quick pace, easy-to-grasp goal and characters, and enough engagement and personality given to the world and its visuals, keeps things mostly focused and entertaining for a casual audience member.

Most of the actors are given the fun task of being able to play regular humans as well as digital creations that were created by human counterparts, which has the potential for plenty of interesting commentary surrounding shaping a new identity behind the veil of a computer screen and what that says about you as a person. As previously stated however, the freshness of the technology and the internet in general made this still mostly uncharted waters, so it mainly just acts as an excuse to have returning actors play similar roles. As main characters go, they mainly just fit archetypes for this kind of narrative and none of them are particularly interesting or even that strongly performed. Due to the unique presentation and the overwhelming number of effects placed around them that they physically can’t interact with, it feels like most of them have no idea what they are reacting to or even how to react to it, so sometimes it can come across as very over-the-top and shouty, but for the most part, no one is downright awful. Jeff Bridges as the lead is effective enough, although his portrayal can sometimes be obnoxiously comedic a little too often. Bruce Boxleitner as Tron would return in several Tron-related projects in the future, but here, it feels like he lacks a true identity. The role of him as a security program who materializes as a figure meant to act as the hero to this digital world, is a nice premise and you can easily see how it could form into its own franchise as it does kind of have a serialized ring to it that would work perfectly within the comic or cartoon space  (it’s weird that it wasn’t really taken advantage of), but in the realms of this story, he barely says anything interesting and mostly just fills the role of the bland hero figure, so he isn’t that memorable. David Warner as all of the villains can at times be enjoyably over-the-top, with the MCP ironically being his most interesting character as opposed to Dillinger and Sark who are more just excuses to act in a hoaky manner. Even though he is just the traditional robotic emotionless antagonist, his interactions with Dillinger and Sark are entertaining and his creepy design with his blaring red palette and almost amorphous face really makes him feel like a being made from code rather than nature.

The technology for this film is its most eye-catching and iconic element, as even though most of the other aspects are mediocre at best, the way the film looks through its production design by Dean Edward Mitzner, its overall aesthetic and art direction handled by John B. Mansbridge and Al Roelofs, its environment layout and set decoration by Roger M. Shook, its costume design by Elois Jenssen and Rosanna Norton, and all of the effects whether practical or digital, look incredibly unique for the time and really helped create a brand for itself. Since most of the stuff in the real world looks fairly standard and even a little cheap given the time period, the transition into the digital world would’ve been so noticeably and effectively jarring in a way that doesn’t feel too much of a shark-jump (the world is weird looking, but it isn’t abstract). The designs are very similar to other monolithic futuristic environments like Metropolis, but the tech-based structures, the primary color scheme that helps separate the good and bad characters to an almost hilariously obvious degree, and the unique method of clothing and transportation which is just the right blend between feeling like a clinical programming design and a specific quirk chosen for a newly formed society, really makes this world feel like its own and takes advantage of its digitize nature. It has a retro feel to its production and even visual design that could very easily be dated, but it was very clever to set the film in a world constructed by a computer where everything is allowed to look artificial, blocky and almost half-rendered and choppy. It feels in line with the technology people would have a vague understanding of, creates a presentation that no one will easily forget, and despite having an outdated look, still holds up years later because they are still ground-breaking effects that utilized the tech in a whole new manner that inspired so many people for years to come. The composer for this film, Wendy Carlos, was known for bringing a synth electronic sound to films like A Clockwork Orange and The Shining, even managing to earn herself a Grammy (the first transgender recipient to earn one), and you can feel that level of acclaim when listening to the music in this. The score for this film is appropriately atmospheric and even though it is sparingly used, when it is, it sounds effective and really helps build out the techy feel of this new environment.

Tron’s influence over various levels of pop culture is something to pay attention to, and its hand in pushing the evolution of technology for film is something to greatly admire, so much so that it’s kind of strange to see how ‘’contently average’’ this film is. It in many ways lives and dies by its visuals, as without them, the movie is just a generic ‘’fight against the man’’ kind of story that, while not bad, isn’t strong enough or different enough to really be worth remembering. Whereas with its distinct look, it provides some unforgettable designs through a very unique environment that leads way into a few droplets of fun commentary that, while a little too early to the party, are nice to look back on with modern awareness. The characters are nothing special and the story doesn’t really evolve into much else outside of its base premise (if anything, it almost loses track of its original set-up as soon as it gets into the digital world and has fun with the online Olympics equivalent of Mortal Kombat), but when it spends time in its world, it makes for a pretty solid time. GLTron may have been where you first saw this style, maybe take a gander at where it originally came from next.