DVD Reviews

Tron: Legacy / Tron: The Original Classic – Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Apr 7, 2011, 14:05 GMT

Disney presents a high-tech motion picture unlike anything you\'ve ever seen in an astonishing 3D Combo Pack. Immerse yourself in the digital world of Tron, as celebrated actor Jeff Bridges stars in a revolutionary visual effects adventure beyond imagination. When Flynn, the world\'s greatest video game creator, sends out a secret signal from an amazing digital realm, his son discovers the clue and embarks on a personal journey to save ...more

I just made a typo.  If you’re of my generation then you may have the same vision as you backspace and correct your error - some tiny character in your computer being de-rezzed and replaced with a new one.  Such is the influence of Tron and now you can get both films with this delightful set.

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) was a programmer at the ENCOM Company.  He was using their computers to develop a new game called Space Paranoids and just when he was finished the game was stolen by coworker Edward Dillinger (David Warner). 

Dillinger rose to company CEO and Flynn was fired.  Flynn now eaks out a living running a video game parlor, ironically shilling Space Paranoids, and hoping to hack into ENCOM’s computer system to find the proof that Dillinger stole his creation but he’s frozen out of the system by the Master Control Program (MCP) that Dillinger has developed. 

Flynn’s pal Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) is still in ENCOM’s employ and wanting to keep his program dubbed TRON out from under the thumb of the MCP. 

Flynn just knows that if he can get into the company headquarters and to a terminal that he can find that elusive proof so he gets Alan other pal Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan) to let him into the building where Lora and company co-founder Walter Gibbs (Barnard Hughes) are working on a laser digitization project. 

Flynn starts hacking around on the terminal, conveniently located in front of the laser, and the MCP activates the system and transports Flynn into the world of the computer system where the two adversaries can be on a level playing field.  So now Flynn has to encounter the programs that he and his friends have written (played by their real world counterparts) and disable the MCP to allow free access to the grid. 

Begin Tron: Legacy.  Well, Flynn (Bridges) does and returns to the real world and becomes CEO of ENCOM but in 1989.  He left behind a young son named Sam (Garrett Hedlund) who has grown into a juvenile delinquent but is also the majority stockholder of ENCOM, although Alan (Boxleitner) served as both a board member and surrogate father to Sam. 

Alan receives a mysterious page message that originates from Flynn’s old, abandoned arcade.  When Sam investigates he finds a secret room that has a dusty computer system and the same laser digitization system and while he’s hacking that terminal he’s digitized and transported to the grid. 

There he finds a program named CLU (played by a digitally youthful Bridges) who is the dictator of the grid.  He nearly kills Sam but he’s rescued by QUORRA (Olivia Wilde) and taken to the real Flynn (Bridges in his aged glory).  The grid is a closed system but CLU wants to break out and take over the real world and now the reunited Flynn and Sam have to keep that from happening. 

Tron was truly a groundbreaking film.  Computers were a very new concept in 1982, but they’ve now evolved into entities that we can barely live without.  I can recall seeing the film on VHS (remember that?).  Even more unknown was using computers to accomplish special effects in films.  Tron was one of the first films to do it on a large scale. 

Those effects to my eyes in those days were breathtaking and inspirational of the way things could go.  The irony is that Tron was not eligible for Academy Awards for its special effects because using computers were considered cheating.  Boy how have times changed. 

Tron has had a rabid fanbase, but maybe a sequel would only appeal to them.  However, the awesomeness that appeared in the first film and made those fans is only built upon by fledgling director Joseph Kosinski, with some Obi-Wanning from original film director Steven Lisberger. 

It seems a natural progression from the concepts of the original film that have been given a fantastic digital gloss by new technology.  Much of it wielded by adults who where inspired as kids by the first film. 

The de-aging of Bridges is a cool concept but does loose something since it does look so computer generated (it doesn’t help that his villainous circle is played by actors instead of similar digital creations, of course if all the grid-folk were digital then Sam would’ve stood out like a sore thumb). 

However, future generations watching Tron: Legacy may be handling the computerized toolbox in the future that will replace the high-tech now that does it and will make it look even more outdated. 

Tron is an effective, inspirational film that showed potential.  Tron: Legacy took that inspiration and ran with it and crafts an excellent follow-up.  Kosinski is rumored to tackle the Black Hole next, a personal favorite that is a bit flawed too, and you’ll note a reference to that Disney film in the young Sam’s room.

Tron is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.20:1) and Tron: Legacy as well (2.35:1 and 1.78:1 for the IMAX scenes).  Both transfers look gorgeous with Tron: Legacy obviously benefiting more from the newer technology.  This set contains both movies over five discs. 

Discs one is Tron: Legacy on Blu-ray with disc two presenting it in 3D (for those of you with that equipment).  Disc three is Tron on Blu-ray.  Disc four is a DVD copy of Legacy and five a digital copy of it.  What you don’t get in this set is a DVD and digital copy of the original Tron. 

The original films special features include a commentary from director Lisberger, producer Donald Kushner, visual effects wizard Harrison Ellenshaw, and effects supervisor Richard Taylor (from the laserdisc, remember those?). 

New special features (and the only ones in high-def) are the 10 minute Tron Phenomenon where mostly the cast of the new movie talks about the influence of the original and the 17 minute Photo Tronology where Lisberger and his son look though the Disney Archives at pics from the original. 

The rest come from older releases and are in standard definition which includes the magnificent 88 minute “Making of Tron,” 6 minutes of deleted scenes, featurettes on development (8 minutes), digital imagery (12 minutes), music (8 minutes), publicity  and trailers (13 minutes), design (4 minutes), storyboards (9 minutes), and an extensive photo gallery. 

Legacy’s special features are in high definition and include an interactive feature called “The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed,” the 10 minute “Launching the Legacy” about sequeling Tron, the 12 minute “Visualizing Tron,” 12 minutes about casting, a 3 minute bit about getting a Comic Con crowd to provide crowd roar, a 3 minute music video by Daft Punk, a 2 minute look at the upcoming Tron animated show, and Disney Second Screen that lets you sync up your iPad or laptop.

Both Tron and Legacy have their flaws, but both are compelling films that play well off each other.  Users will be much pleased with this set that includes both films but the Legacy features feel a bit lighter than the original.  Not that you don’t have a cavalcade of editions to choose from depending on your budget.  End of line.

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