TRON: LEGACY

title: TRON: LEGACY
year: 2010
cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen
rating: **

Part THE MATRIX with shades of THE DARK KNIGHT, this sequel to the Disney classic starts with effective action scenes as Sam Flynn, slacker son of Jeff Bridge’s technological genius Flynn (missing for years), plays a risky prank on the new uptight heads of ENCOM. Then, upon returning to pop’s 1980's arcade (Bruce Boxleitner providing exposition), he’s sucked into the computer world resembling a digital Gotham City. A flying disc battle initiation is great; one-on-one, it’s easy to keep score... yet the light cycle grid "game," involving too many players, is difficult to follow. But we do know that CLU, played by a youthfully restored Jeff Bridges, is now the dictator (liken to David Warner of yesteryear) and wants Flynn Junior dead. And when son finds dad in a mountainous hideout/bat cave, the film hits a wall and never recovers. A bearded, wizardly Jeff Bridges provides a weak backstory about CLU turning evil for no reason whatsoever. This followed by a glitzy battle in a discotheque with pulsating rave music. And more long bouts of dialog follow, leading to a quick, dull climax. The character-driven original, though technologically dated… made when home computers were rare… brought the viewer to a fantastic otherworld with an unflagging pace. But now, since computers are common, it all resembles a video game… and a boring one at that.