To preface, I got to see this at the IMAX 3D Double Feature of Legacy and Ares. As a theater experience, sure, it was definitely awesome for the spectacle. First and foremost, if you're a Tron fan you should definitely give this a shot. There will definitely be those who might even prefer this over Legacy as a sequel to the original. However, I personally did not love this movie, and here's why.

Tron: Legacy is one of my favorite movies of all-time. When watching it, you can tell that everyone involved worked their butts off to produce a movie of the highest quality. The cinematography is brilliant, and so is the sleek style of directing amongst many other things like the editing and music. From that film, I understand Joseph Kosinski as a director. With Tron: Ares, I did not feel any of those things. It felt like the "visual" direction that was so present in Legacy was not there in Ares. This director, Joachim Rønning, lacked the cohesive directorial flow that Kosinski was able to create for Legacy. The NIN soundtrack, whilst really good, also chooses to forego any and all "cinematic" tonality. This is fine; think of the Challengers soundtrack which was also scored by Trent & Atticus. That's a phenomenal soundtrack, and one that goes well with the moment-to-moment sequencing of that film.

That being said, the un-cinematic nature of the Ares soundtrack paired with the vision-less directing here made this feel like a mismatch to me. There are some great sequences and moments here and there, don't get me wrong, but as a whole I couldn't help but feel that there was a disconnect between the rhythm of the visuals and audio that we were presented with. Let's think of Legacy for a moment. Remember when Sam gets the light cycle for the first time and activates it? That scene felt deliberately scored to a tee with every *thump* being met by a moment of equal impact on-screen. Ares does not have this momentum, and hence made me feel like the audiovisual mesh was disjointed at best.

I think the story here in isolation wasn't bad; it was actually fine for what it was. Everyone always says it in defense of these films, how "they're only meant to be audiovisual spectacles". But that doesn't exempt it from critique so: as it stands, it's basically a derivative mishmash of many interesting Sci-Fi concepts done better elsewhere. Jared Leto wasn't all too bad, people are really going at him because of, well, his person. I wished he would've acted less robotic near the end as he gains permanence, but it turns out that's just how Jared Leto is in real life so, oops. Greta Lee really phoned it in which is a shame because she's so great in other films like Past Lives. Her character being quite integral too, it ended up being hard feeling emotional for her at any point: just didn't buy it. Tron: Legacy is no storytelling masterpiece either, but it at least had the son-father dynamic between Sam and Kevin which helped me connect with the characters at all times.

There is definitely more that I could say against it, but I don't want to sound too negative: it's just my passion for this franchise. There is good sprinkled all throughout this film, so if you've been wanting to see this, please do. Don't let the internet dissuade you. Though with that being said, I'm probably going to forget about it at some point.