Electronic eye candy

In 1982, Pac Man Fever was sweeping thenation. But in the Magic Kingdom, Disney executives were feeling aches andpains of a different sort. The studio's designated summer blockbuster"Tron" (which cost approximately $20 million, an impressive budgetfor those days) had all but short-circuited at the box office, failing tobecome the next "Star Wars," much less the "2001: A SpaceOdyssey" of the Atari generation.
Despite an abundance of pre-opening publicity about its melange of live-actionand computer-generated special effects, the movie did not catch on withaudiences. The creative visuals and inventive use of what was thenstate-of-the-art design couldn't compensate for an unfathomable plot, dullcharacters and the listless direction of Steven Lisberger, who gave the film's"real world" sequences an almost funereal pace and didn't work upmuch more excitement when the action moved into the electrified universe insidea video game.
Twenty-eight years later, Disney has done something that would have seemedunthinkable: created a sequel to "Tron," titled "Tron: Legacy." The rationale seems to be that"Tron" has always had a following among animation connoisseurs,technology geeks and admirers of all things 1980s (although even its cultistswill often admit the movie itself is not very good). Even more importantly,technology has advanced far beyond anything that could even have been imaginedin 1982.
See for yourself: When game designer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is zapped intoThe Grid in the original "Tron," much of the world he wanders aroundin looks like a leftover "Star Trek" set that's been weirdly lit anddecorated with neon accents. On the other hand, when Sam Flynn (GarrettHedlund), Kevin's "orphaned" son, steps onto The Grid in"Legacy," that's the precise moment director Joseph Kosinski switchesformats from 2D to 3D; it's a trick as startling as the moment when Dorothysteps out of her sepia-toned Kansas home into the ravishing Technicolor gardensof Munchkinland in "The Wizard of Oz."
The Grid has been reimagined as a genuinelyvirtual environment that seems to pulsate with an artificial heartbeat of itsown. The overriding color in "Tron" was a gravel gray, but thesignature shade in "Legacy" is an otherworldly white that glows likesnow in the moonlight.
There have been numerous movies in the last two years that have used 3D aslittle more than a flashy come-on, but in the case of "Legacy," theprocess actually seems essential for the movie to truly work. Many of the bigset pieces in "Legacy" are inspired by similar scenes in"Tron," including a high-speed chase on Light Cycles, shoot-outs withlethal electronic Frisbees and a trip aboard the Solar Sailer, which driftsthrough the air above The Grid, its butterfly-like wings gracefully opening andclosing. Yet the similarities end with the basic concepts: There's a vitalityto the action in "Legacy" that "Tron" never achieved, andthe 3D makes it a thoroughly immersive experience.
A major added bonus is the sensational score by the duo Daft Punk, which wrapsstrains of Tangerine Dream and Giorgio Moroder inside the frosty synthesizersof Gary Numan and the thick, vaguely menacing beats of early Human League. It'snot the only element of the movie that summons up the spirit of the early1980s: Production designer Darren Gilford works in a few subtle references to"Blade Runner" (which opened only weeks before "Tron" in1982) that Ridley Scott scholars will instantly spot.
Take away the astonishing art direction and effects, though, and the plot holesin "Legacy" would be considerably tougher to overlook. If AdamHorowitz and Edward Kitsis' screenplay is slightly easier to follow than thefirst installment, it contains almost as much banal dialogue and nearly as manymystifying character motivations.
The set-up is simple enough, with Sam, who thought Kevin either died ordisappeared 20 years ago, accidentally following Dad down the same electronicrabbit hole and winding up in an eerie alternative universe populated byhumanoid programs that don't have much tolerance for "users" from theoutside world. Kevin (played again by Bridges) has taken to living in seclusionon the outskirts of Techno Town, holed up in a hideaway that's a cross betweenthe Batcave and the apartment of the old man at the end of "2001."His companion is Quorra (Olivia Wilde), a lithe warrior with the wide,come-hither eyes of a silent-film star and a slightly asymmetrical pageboyhaircut that frames her face marvelously well.
It's never clear exactly what's been going on between Quorra and Kevin (heapparently rescued her from extermination and introduced her to the works ofJules Verne), or if she's a surrogate daughter, a caregiver or a concubine. Butthere's no missing the bad vibes between Kevin and his digital doppelganger Clu(an incredible, digitally rejuvenated Bridges, looking like he did back in his"Fabulous Baker Boys" days), who was supposed to keep the peace amongthe various factions on The Grid and has instead become corrupt, evenentertaining fantasies of escaping into the "user" world and takingcontrol of it.
"The guy doesn't dig imperfection," Kevin tells Sam. "What'smore imperfect than our world?" (Why Kevin has seemingly evolved intoJerry Garcia, sprinkling his conversation with references to "knocking onthe sky" and "messing with my Zen thing," also goes unexplained;maybe Bridges couldn't resist revisiting The Dude from "The BigLebowski.")
There's a credible balance of tension and tenderness between Hedlund andBridges, and Wilde brings a cool kind of zestiness to Quorra. But the movie'smost notable performance comes from Michael Sheen as a leering would-be powerbroker named Zuse, a maniacal blend of Elton John and Count Dracula. He's notaround for long, but he makes an indelible impression as The Grid's residentloose cannon.