 Tron (1982) Jeff Bridges plays an early incarnation of his Big Lebowski character, here a hacker/programmer trying to even the score with the former employer who stole his video game ideas and made a mint. Bruce Boxleitner, who is actually very famous though I can't remember anything in particular that he's been in except this movie, is the anthropomorphic computer program who saves the day with his Tron™ Deadly Disc skillz and silent movie star charm. The plot is rather dense for a Disney flick, creating a humanized world populated by what are actually binary creations, and it does this with some memorable and inventive visuals that haven't dated poorly, amazingly enough. I don't know whether they enhanced the CG animation for the DVD release, but I was impressed by how cool Tron still looks. There are some definite moments of pure camp, but no more than your typical silent film, which is really what Tron is. What it reminds me of the most is the Giorgio Moroder cinematic remix of Metropolis from '84 (which may well have been inspired by Tron, who knows)—and I'm sure I'm in the minority in thinking of that version as the best Metropolis. Much of Tron's cinematography looks like a silent film run through a Commodore 64, in fact—and this is the lion's share of what I like about it. Seeing it again made me want to play video games more than anything else, specifically "Tron Deadly Discs™," "Tron," and "Journey Escape"—therefore, a well-worthwhile movie. Don't bother with the DVD extras though—they're SUPER BORING.
Review by Annie Jean Filipina |