There are so many franchises returning to the spotlight, whether with sequels, reboots, revivals or remakes, that we could easily describe the current era as one big fishing rescue network. When the fortified plot comes out of the water, some fish struggle due to lack of air (or inspiration), while others appear like surprising sharks.

Films such as It, Freaky Friday, Puss in Boots 2: The Last Request, Joker, Thor: Love and Thunder and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker are divided between the two groups mentioned, a selection that has just received a new story, Tron: Ares.

Disney

Following the franchise's usual hiatus, of launching a new chapter around 20 years after the previous one, the third act of this adventure Science fiction arrives in cinemas around the world with Jared Leto taking on the role of protagonist. The film follows the highly sophisticated Program that is sent from the digital world to the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humanity's first encounter with Artificial Intelligence beings.

Directed by Joachim Rønning, from Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the cast is completed by Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges.

Just like Pinocchio and Astro Boy, Ares is the boy who wishes he was real

Disney

It is difficult to dissociate the image created by the 80s franchise from the futuristic aspects that it always dared to address. While the GRID, digital environment, of the first film already presented aspects that would become real in the following decades, The Legacy uses the already established ideas of a globalized world in a conventional and metaphorical way, with a soundtrack that certainly elevated the story.

The arrival of the third part of this virtual adventure delves into one of the most effervescent contemporary factors today: the constant presence of artificial intelligence in human daily life. With the protagonist as a personification of a military AI, it was an opportunity to play with the multiple possibilities, from the wonders to the dangers, of this widely used tool. However, by focusing on the present and not the future, Tron: Ares chooses to establish tired - even if effective - philosophical analogies about what makes us human beings.

In an interview withADORCinema, this was even justified to a certain extent, as the film's production experienced a continuous back and forth until it got on track. With filming, scripting and post-editing done essentially in the last 3 years, the timing was lost due to the boom in AI around the world. This makes the film a target of time itself, but it also demonstrates how much the lack of futuristic idealizations undermined one of the most interesting aspects of the saga.

Disney

Inspired by the God of War from Greek mythology, Ares is an effective general under the orders of his master, here played by Evan Peters as billionaire Julian Dillinger, heir to a well-known clan in the franchise. He intends to sell the dream of making physical something that is only seen in the digital environment - and is successful in a specific period of time -, something that gives the hero his first insights into the real world. Rain, a natural aspect that is sometimes so trivialized in everyday life, becomes the break from the synthetic to the organic in the hero's artificial mind.

Despite being done for military purposes, something that could have real implications in a world taken by wars, the presence of rich people in a secret meeting only serves to introduce the character to the real world. No ambition overrides the narrative other than the idea of ​​this technology lasting longer than just under 30 minutes, guided by the hysterical antagonist and his controlling mother played by Gillian Anderson. The actress convinces in the role, but is trapped in the caricature of this dysfunctional family that only seeks power for power's sake.

Tron: Ares is a popcorn session like a 2000s adventure

Disney

Coming from one of the best films of the decade, the Oscar-nominated Past Lives, Greta Lee is responsible for being a viable and convincing extension of what humanity represents. Her relationship with her deceased sister gives Ares his first demonstrations of empathy, compassion, life and death. Being a virtual program that gains a temporary body, it desires permanence and in a few minutes, a sequence is established that mixes science fiction with typical structural elements of 2000s cinema.

Tron: Ares offers interesting choreography in hand-to-hand fights, as well as adding spikes of adrenaline to the sound of Nine Inch Nails, the band responsible for writing the sequel's soundtrack. Although it is still a long way from Daft Punk's work, the group manages to express the franchise's atmosphere very well throughout the film - and this is as good as it is bad: as it masks less interesting scenes by adding an epic tone to the background.

Motorcycle chases, with the new red light cycle versions, gain a special touch of adrenaline when they leave a physical trail of energy, a solid beam of light that can take on different shapes and proportions based on the vehicles. Part of the franchise itself, the use of resources is interesting at first glance, but soon loses some of its shine when they are not always used in more creative ways - with the exception of some parts of the final sequence.

The AI ​​problem is left aside by a dated structure

Disney

Upon reaching the end of the film, at least in technical terms, it is understood that there are major missed opportunities - even more so when another Disney film, in the case of Marvel Studios, tried to play with the symbiosis between aesthetics and narrative. Whether you like the result or not, Fantastic Four: First Steps calls for an interesting retrofuturistic aspect.

The film of the house itself could at least be a source of inspiration for Jeff Cronenweth, director of photography who collects enough experiences to bring a certain freshness to Ares' look. He worked on Gone Girl, Millenium, Fight Club and A Rede Social, cinematographic pieces with a striking aesthetic identity, something that does not apply here.

While the first Tron presented an experimental and abstract style, with a mix of computer animation and rotoscoping, the second embraces the entire neon vibe, with the typical hi-tech aspect of the time. Here, we have homages, good executions of special effects, but nothing innovative. We know that the artificial aspect is an intrinsic part of the franchise, but excess and lack of polish are never welcome.

Disney

As for the boy who wanted to be real, Jared Leto gives a punctual performance that oscillates between robotic and indifferent mannerisms to the mechanical soldier who, little by little, softens his heart made of zeros and ones. The other actors continue their regular work, presenting an adventure that is entertaining, but constantly sounds familiar, with that feeling of “I've seen this before” or “I know exactly what's going to happen from now on”.

With all due respect to the legacy created by TV Globo, Tron: Ares presents a fun Afternoon Session, which between the speed of light cycle and the typical megalomaniac third act, misses the chance to delve deeper into the AI ​​issues, offering, however, a reminder of how life is precious, authoritarian orders should always be questioned and that moving forward after loss is a difficult but possible process.

One gets the feeling that this is not a science fiction shark worried about the replacement of human beings with digital tools, but a fish exercising the other side of the coin, a simple answer to “What if an AI gained a provisional body?" Interestingly, this is a question that any artificial intelligence could deal with, but would never be able to create an imperfectly perfect narrative, permeated by mistakes and successes, something fundamental in human existence.