Yes, I went and saw Tron 2 over the Christmas break.  As a kid, I thought the original Tron, while campy and cheesy, had a certain cool element to it – at least in terms of Science Fiction entertainment.  It was the first movie depiction of a “world” inside computers, electronics, etc.  The arcade video games based on the movie (I knew of two: Tron, which had four “mini games” – Grid Bugs, Lightcycles, Tanks, and MCP and Discs of Tron, both of which I enjoyed playing).  But it was cheesy and campy and outside of some childhood, geeky nostalgia, I wasn’t overly excited about Tron 2.

The movie was ok.  I saw it in IMAX 3D and the big screen definitely made the special effects much more impressive.  In fact, the special effects and the small nuances for the “digital world” feel were well done.  The plot and dialogue were average and at times the techno-dance music drowned out the voices or the synthesized voices.  The various action scenes were the real hits – a multi-level lightcycle battle, disc combat and a dogfight sequence.  I have to say, though, that the combination of the seat rumbling techno beat, theater chairs that came up just below the neck, the 3D glasses and the IMAX screen really had been dizzy and close to a headache afterwards. 

The movie had some obligatory Hollywood liberal digs in it: global warming, war in the Middle East, strive for peace.  But at the same time, it was filled with conflicting dialogue and messages.  Case in point #1: after a line is dropped bemoaning the state of affairs in the “real world”, including global warming and war in the Middle East, Jeff Daniel’s* character, Kevin Flynn, makes the point that the point of this “digital world” was to have a perfect world without all of that.  However, in the end, the character recognizes that perfection cannot be achieved and our world, while imperfect, is our world.  The Kevin Flynn character has further conflicting aspects.  While largely depicted as this zen master (he frequently sits cross legged meditating), his world includes some violent combat “games” and towards the end during the dogfight sequence, revels in an enemy’s head being blown off (or “de-res’d”). 

Maybe I’m digging into this too much – I tend to enjoy escaping into movies and look for the positive enjoyment side of my $15.  So, in conclusion, it’s worth seeing in the theaters if you enjoy the geeky, science fiction action movies or have a nostalgic tie to the original.

* Post note: well it took a few hours, but one of the faithful wrote in spotting my nuance joke. Yes, I know it’s Jeff Bridges and it is comical how he gets confused for others.  Anyway, good, catch, J.T.!

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.