I don't remember the first TRON movie very well because I was really young when I saw it. Maybe this movie would have made more sense so I'll have to watch the first one again. Here are my current thoughts on the movie.

WARNING! This review contains spoilers! If you haven't seen it then don't continue reading!

Pros

Here are the things I liked.

  • Excellent effects (for the most part. See cons.)
  • The vehicles were unique and their movement was fluid.
  • The clothing was really cool and the lighting was excellent (even though the blue vs red felt a lot like star wars in some scenes).
  • I liked the actual UNIX commands used in the beginning of the film (kill -9, grep, whoami, history, etc).
  • The Mac references were funny (OS 12 only adding a 12 to the box, the trendy Mac guy).
  • DAFT PUNK! The music and them actually DJing in the movie.
  • Zuse calling the other programs "primitive functions" and other funny programming jokes.

Cons

Here are the things I didn't like.

  • The CGI face on Clu looked odd. There was something off and it really bugged me to the point where I stopped concentrating on the movie and focused on every movement of his face.
  • I didn't like the term ISOs used for the programs that were created by the Grid. The term, Isomorphism, is used in Graph Theory to describe two graphs with the same nodes and same edges connecting them, but maybe not in the same coordinates in space.
  • How did Clu come into existence. Was he just a copy of Flynn? Can't you just delete a copy? How did any of the programs get deleted? Their creation and demise is not examined very thoroughly which makes the ending even more awkward. If Clu is a program, he should be able to be reprogrammed (or repurposed as they called it in the film).
  • Quorra's personality was really odd. I couldn't figure out if she acted that way on purpose or not. She reminded me of an anime character because of the random smiles.
  • How did Flynn make a phone call from the Grid to page his old friend? Couldn't he have done that earlier?
  • Flynn was surprised at the end when Sam jumped off the building and flew down gracefully with Quorra in his arms, yet he didn't seem at all surprised when Sam could throw his disk with great accuracy, rid a light cycle better than programs that were designed to do it, and even parkour his way through the Grid.

Tron Guy with Glasses

I don't think Tron: Legacy was a waste of money but I feel like there is a gaping hole that needs to be filled. I hope the first movie will alleviate this void. To be determined...