Tron (1982): Totally old school.
For some reason, there was a small expectation in my mind that Tron was going to feature top-of-the-line graphics; but then I remembered it was made more than twenty years ago, when computer graphics were first coming in to use.
It reminds me a lot of old cartoons from the same era, that sometimes aired on television still to this day. As you can tell, I wasn't really impressed with the visual effects, as I may have been many years ago. Maybe that's what I was thinking the entire time I was watching the film; expecting it to be just another cartoon some company punches out -- and honestly at times, it looks just like one too.
Which now brings me to the story: it's pretty bland.
The first twenty minutes help to set up the human aspect of the movie, then it ventures in to the computer world. And really, the human part of the movie is pointless, so really the first twenty minutes are pretty dull.
The story is decent, albeit slow at times.
Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges, is a brilliant computer programmer; possibly the best his company had ever seen. He made numerous video games, which would have catapulted his career, but another programmer, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), stole the games and took the credit. Flynn has been desperately trying to hack back into the company's computer and find evidence that proves he is the rightful creator of said games. While trying to hack in, Flynn gets transported into the computer world by Master Control Program, the evil computer system. Then with the help of super program Tron -- although being the title character, is a semi-major character -- played by Bruce Boxleitner, who also plays Flynn's friend, Alan.
Here's where I have a problem with the characters. They just seem so flat. Like there's nothing to them. No life. Nothing. Maybe it's because this is a family film, I don't know but there was no true character development in the movie. And maybe it's because I was expecting so much from Jeff Bridges, especially since he has been in movies since Tron; save Warner, he's been in more things too. But on the flip side, I liked Warner's performance; he played Dillinger, the evil computer program Sark and Master Control Program -- and he was good in all three aspects, with Sark his strongest character, in my opinion.
And finally, the directing. Really, I didn't see anything great about it. There was nothing that blew me away with Lisberger's directing; and maybe that's why he hasn't done anything since the '80s. The only thing I can give him credit for is the story and the visual effects. They were unique for their time. But now, it just seems like another bad cartoon on the television.
It reminds me a lot of old cartoons from the same era, that sometimes aired on television still to this day. As you can tell, I wasn't really impressed with the visual effects, as I may have been many years ago. Maybe that's what I was thinking the entire time I was watching the film; expecting it to be just another cartoon some company punches out -- and honestly at times, it looks just like one too.
Which now brings me to the story: it's pretty bland.
The first twenty minutes help to set up the human aspect of the movie, then it ventures in to the computer world. And really, the human part of the movie is pointless, so really the first twenty minutes are pretty dull.
The story is decent, albeit slow at times.
Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges, is a brilliant computer programmer; possibly the best his company had ever seen. He made numerous video games, which would have catapulted his career, but another programmer, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), stole the games and took the credit. Flynn has been desperately trying to hack back into the company's computer and find evidence that proves he is the rightful creator of said games. While trying to hack in, Flynn gets transported into the computer world by Master Control Program, the evil computer system. Then with the help of super program Tron -- although being the title character, is a semi-major character -- played by Bruce Boxleitner, who also plays Flynn's friend, Alan.
Here's where I have a problem with the characters. They just seem so flat. Like there's nothing to them. No life. Nothing. Maybe it's because this is a family film, I don't know but there was no true character development in the movie. And maybe it's because I was expecting so much from Jeff Bridges, especially since he has been in movies since Tron; save Warner, he's been in more things too. But on the flip side, I liked Warner's performance; he played Dillinger, the evil computer program Sark and Master Control Program -- and he was good in all three aspects, with Sark his strongest character, in my opinion.
And finally, the directing. Really, I didn't see anything great about it. There was nothing that blew me away with Lisberger's directing; and maybe that's why he hasn't done anything since the '80s. The only thing I can give him credit for is the story and the visual effects. They were unique for their time. But now, it just seems like another bad cartoon on the television.
The Final Call:
6/10
6/10
