Tron: Ares crosses over in October

[Steevy Maximus]

To be brutally frank, my “pricing estimates” are probably on the REALLY conservative side. The last 3.75” Star Wars Speeder Bike TVC set was $45 in 2023, and it featured a single figure without the bells and whistles seen on these. The Speeder bike itself, while likely more painted, wasn’t as large.
So if you start looking at $20-23 per figure, plus closer to $50-60 per bike, and another 30 for the stand (which has electronics, remember)…it doesn’t feel as rough considering the niche nature 3.75” collector products have seemingly become. Because remember as well, Hasbro’s kicking up the prices on the collector ranges next year. I’ve already seen retailers kick up the Hasbro 6” collector figure prices to $30, and Super7 ReAction+ has already kicked their prices up to $25 per figure (4” retro o-ring).

I‘m trying not to “sell you” on this HasLab. Maybe I am to myself, but I’m just not sure I’m a big enough TRON fan myself to justify this “investment” when I’d probably be just as happy with a nice 6” TRON and Lightcycle set (which would probably cost, like, $100). Bearing in mind I DO still have some of the NECA Kingdom Hearts/TRON retro stuff they did some years ago.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Tron Ares opened number 1 and the box office…at a soft $33.2 million. Global weekend haul of just a hair under $60 million. Not a sterling start, even with a more modest (reportedly $150 million) budget. For reference, Tron Legacy had a whopping $170 million (in 2010) budget which garnered a bit over $400million box office. Reviews have also been FAR more lukewarm compared to Legacy as well.
Barring a really strong international haul, the Tron franchise might get put on ice another decade or two, even with the all the sequel baiting.

My Facebook feed is full of memes attributing Jared Leto to the film’s failure, much like Morbius and his presence in other notable recent underperformers (Blade Runner 2049, Haunted Mansion, Suicide Squad, etc). Next up for Mr. Leto is Skeletor in Masters of the Universe

 

[Fero McPigletron]

This bites. Ares was a pretty good watch. It's not horrible. The effects and music really were great. There's some story details that were off (the timing of the 29min) but Leto wasn't that bad.

 

[Echowarrior]

I blame the lack of Bruce Boxleitner. Seriously, a Tron movie without the actual character named Tron?

Spoiler

I mean, yeah, the guy went through the wringer in the backstory to the last film, but there are ways around what happened to him.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I blame the lack of Bruce Boxleitner. Seriously, a Tron movie without the actual character named Tron?

Spoiler

I mean, yeah, the guy went through the wringer in the backstory to the last film, but there are ways around what happened to him.

Spoiler

I was surprised that they didn't include a little tussle when Ares entered the "Old Grid". Could have set up a nice little exchange where Tron attempts to eliminate the "incursion", while in the real world, there would be an override prompt sitting on terminal. Have Tron smack Ares around a good bit, only to have someone on the other side acknowledge an override. Ghost Flynn could have simply stated it was a different version of TRON.

But that goes back to a broader issue I have with the film being a bit "half baked". A lot of it comes down to scripting decisions, much as my lesser satisfaction from Rise of the Beasts: some MINOR script or narrative beat changes could have elevated much of the overall film.

To me, I think what they SHOULD have done was have Eve' sister be the "idealist" while Eve becomes estranged from her sister's lofty dreams about the Grid (and would justify Eve being "the gamer" who reboots a popular legacy franchise). That would give Eve some greater investment in finding the "permanence code", as a way of finishing her sister's work. Conversely, I think Ares exposure to her file and the death of her sister SHOULD have been the "turning point" of his arc. He watched his cohort, Caius, not only be destroyed, but unrestored due to him being "expendable".
When Eve enters the Dillinger Grid, there SHOULD have been an exchange, with Eve explaining how people can't be "restored" like programs, that nobody is "expendable". THAT would then become the "turning point" for the character. It's not high art, but I think it would have made their alliance and Ares turn more "functional" than how it appears in the final film.

Then, when being beamed into the Encom backup, Ares would then be forced to fight a version of TRON, as Ares would be a system "incursion". Ares can try to fight, and reason with Tron, but it fails. When interrogated by Tron, he is questioned if he "fights for the users", but naming Eve would meaning nothing since she would not be a known user to that system. The two fight, Tron gets the upper hand, while in the real world, a "user override" is sitting on the terminal with a progress bar counting "up" to Ares destruction. At the last second, someone cancels the deletion process: "User override confirmed" and Tron simply disappears, leaving behind the lightcycle bar.

Neither of those changes, I feel, would have adversely detracted from the film, but probably would have gone farther in "tightening up" the entire narrative

 

[Fero McPigletron]

On your turning point idea, while I do question the movie's lack of a turning point for Ares, I would like it if it was something different other than empathy. Yes, he read about her life, yes, he saw emotion in her eyes. But, hokey as it is, I like the rain drops thing.

I'd be fine if he didn't explain his switch to Eve. But I figure it would be great if the movie ended with him stepping out into a rain and feeling all the raindrops. He was embracing the chaos of unpredictable circumstances. So the revelation would be the reason for his switch was pure selfishness, which I think would be a new thing. He wasn't doing good for the sake of being good (or freeing his fellow programs and thank goodness he wasn't doing cuz he was in love with Eve). He just wanted out.

 

[LordGigaIce]

The original Tron is "whatever" for me. It's a fun movie, but it doesn't really do it for me. Legacy, however, is a fantastic film. I love everything about that movie.
So a third Tron movie that doesn't follow up from that, but instead does its own thing and barely acknowledges Legacy was always going to be a tough sell for me. Especially when Legacy is seemingly sacrificed in the name of Jared Leto vehicle.

I'd have been there opening weekend if this was a true followup to Legacy. As is? I'm willing to wait until Disney dumps it on Disney+

 

[Ceir]

Just got back, haven't been reading the thread. Random thought-barf, not necessarily in order: I went in with very low expectations, and y'know, it was surprisingly okay. The plot was kinda there just to string together some pretty fight scenes, but I got the Pinocchio metaphor they wanted. Liked the music more than I thought I would. Leto's dull acting actually sorta made sense for the character.

I also went in as blind as possible, I barely watched the trailers, so I fully expected Gillian Lynne's character to be Evil CEO Bitch, and was pleasantly surprised. Dillinger III, on the other hand, is very punchable. And what happened to Cillian Murphy's Junior, hmm? I did catch the nods and easter eggs early on, and again, pleasantly surprised since I went into this expecting it to completely ignore Legacy.

Kinda wish they didn't go quite so hard on the remember-berries in the last act, but it could have been done way worse, I suppose (hi, Bit ). Bridges' appearance was more than the cameo I expected. Totally called Athena going off the rails the minute Julian said "by any means necessary". Also called Jules beaming himself out to avoid consequences, become king of a ruined land, etc. - did not call the credits scene though. Loaded a backup from that far back, huh?

I'll get deeper into the more thinky stuff once the shiny wears off.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

I really need to rewatch Legacy cuz folks seems to remember it fondly but I remember being very lukewarm with it.

Have a review about it with my friend. We both actually enjoyed it and had a discussion about the laser 3D printer, the soul and how Dillinger already had the permanence code via Eve.

 

[LordGigaIce]

I really need to rewatch Legacy cuz folks seems to remember it fondly but I remember being very lukewarm with it.

I love Legacy. It's a far better sequel than the first one deserved, IMO It's kind of like Top Gun Maverick in that respect.

"Hey, you know that goofy 80s movie? Well what if we took it absolutely seriously and made a sequel?"

Legacy also has what has to be among contention for the GOAT movie scores. Daft Punk was on fire with that one.

But Legacy... it has one of the most meticulously and beautifully worldbuilt fictional worlds I've ever seen on film. Not just the aesthetic, which is great, but the detail and care made into making it seem like a living place.

On top of the themes, which are just really well handled. Tron Legacy is pretty much everything Star Wars TLJ tried and failed to be, IMO.

What's funny is that Tron Legacy's main plot is that Clu wants Kevin Flynn's disc because it's the key to taking his army out of the Grid and into the real world. And Ares' marketing is all about programs entering the real world and messing stuff up.

So... that's neat, I guess...

Just sucks that Legacy just isn't going to be followed up on in favour of the star of the smash hit Morbius.

 

[LordGigaIce]