Tron

Rating:
Summary: A Milestone in Computer Animation
Review: First released in 1982, Tron was one of the first movies to rely heavily on computer animation for its special effects. Although nowhere near the standards of today's films, the animation and special effects are still very good, and the scenes are extremely well-done.

As for the movie itself, Jeff Bridges stars as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer for a large company. Kevin was dismissed by his boss, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), for unknown reasons. It turns out that Dillinger stole several game programs that were written by Flynn and used them as his own. He didn't even change the names on them. Meanwhile, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) is another programmer working in the same company. He has developed a computer program called Tron, which will be able to oversee the company's "Master Control Program" and monitor its actions.

Dillinger is highly opposed to Tron. He wrote the MCP himself, but now the MCP is taking on characteristics of its own and becoming more powerful each day. It even has aspirations of tapping into the Pentagon and the Kremlin.

Flynn is determined to prove that his work was stolen by Dillinger, so he plans to hack into the MCP along with Bradley and Lora (Cindy Morgan) to retrieve his work. However, as he is attempting to break in, the MCP sucks all of them inside. Once inside, the group must literally "play" the games designed by Flynn in order to survive against the MCP. Will the group survive against the all-mighty MCP, or will the MCP destroy them?

I thought this was a very entertaining movie. The special effects, although dated, are still very good. The light cycles, tanks, and recognizers are high points and bring back lots of memories for me when I used to play the Tron video games at the arcade. Bridges, Boxleitner, Morgan, and Warner do good jobs of acting as well. I recommend this film highly. It was a forerunner to many of today's highly successful computer animation films and helped place Disney at the forefront of the computer animation industry. Watch and see the heroes decide the fate of both the electronic and real worlds.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: When I first saw this movie I was awestruck, I had never really seen anything like it before. Yes, I know that this movie seems incrediblly cheesy now that the special effects technology has improved but hey, I guess that this movie could be called a classic. I think the story line is very clever and interssting. I mean, have a lot of people come up with story lines about computer programs fighting other programs? Which is the reason I give this movie four stars.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I like geek movies, but this is one bad film. I had forgotten just how awful it is. Essentially an 80s video game that lasts 96 minutes and offers minimal entertainment. (In fact, there was an arcade game based on the movie -- also a dud.) Impressive special effects for the time, but silly plot and dry acting. Almost bad enough to be a cult classic... but not quite.

Disney as its nadir.

Your time would be better spent in the retro section of an arcade.

Rating:
Summary: How can you not love TRON??
Review: This is the Holy Grail for geeks everywhere. There are still those, out there, somewhere, who remember the patterns to last while playing the Tron video game.

Jeff Bridges is digitized and broken down into the MCP. The evil, evil MCP who has a henchman that is just as diabolical. His journey begins in a cell where he must fight others in computer combat games. But Jeff's advantage is that he is a 'user', a person that uses computers of course. His opponants are actually computer programs. You know like accounting programs and such. So if this ever happens to you, just remember never, never, ever lose your disc.

Jeff and Crew make their escape during a light cycle battle. Now the light cycles were extremely cool. Everbody loved the light cycles. They turned only at 90 angles and left a wall of solid light that you had to avoid to survive.

Now after the escape, I'm not sure where one would find a pond of water to drink while inside a computer, but it must have been good to let your costume glow like that. Speaking of the costumes, they were very cool. The chick with the skin-tight TRON outfit had a great little wiggle when she walked.

So OK, we see some grand poobah who remembers the MCP when he was a chess program, then we set sail on some kind of pirate ship with sails that follow a lightbeam to the MCP. It is there and only there that the great battle of good vs. evil can begin. TRON saves the day by knocking out the barrier and throwing his disc into the heart of the MCP.

Wow! It doesn't get much more exciting than this folks. I mean this flick will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end when you see Jeff running the company. You see he's a game designer who's ideas were stolen. Anyway, you children of the 80's will love to see this again.

Rating:
Summary: Visually Appealing
Review: TRON is the story of a video game designer digitized into the world of a computer where he must overcome the tyranny of a greedy executive in the real world through a confrontation with an oppressive force called the "Master Control Program"
I remember seeing this film as a kid in the theatre and was awed by the computerized graphics. Although the action scenes were pretty intense, the more dramatic momemnts were a bit awkward and plodding.
Watching the TRON SPECIAL EDITION DVD today, I find TRON to be not as dated as I assumed it would be. The CGI effects are simple compared to today, but still attractive and immersive. Looking back, it is interesting how much the plot parallels the cold war drama of the real world at play during the early eighties.
The DVD transfer is quite good and the sound, with Wendy Carlos soundtrack, is excellent.
Overall, I do recommend this DVD for the good film itself as well as the quality of this DVD transfer.

Rating:
Summary: The memory of Tron is much better than the actual movie
Review: Tron. The original Sci-Fi fantasy about computer games, and Virtual Reality. A video game designer trying to prove a big time executive stole his big idea, and is sucked into a corporate mainframe where programs are personified counterparts of their writers and "users" are subjects of religious faith. This movie set the pace for all future movies of this type. Tron also received Academy Award Nominations including Best Sound, and Best Costume Design. I'll give this credit for being the first of its kind, but watching it recently, I had never remembered the acting being so bad. I recommend this movie only if you want to relish in the history of sci-fi, but otherwise, skip it.

Rating:
Summary: Still Fun, After All These Years
Review: Hollywood has come a long way since Tron was released, so do not expect state of the art special effects here. Nonetheless, we watch very few films for the effects, and the story and acting in Tron are excellent.

I'm a big fan of David Warner, and while he is better as someone who is of uncertain sanity (as he was in the Hornblower series, or Time After Time) he is quite good as the bad guy, both in reality and inside the computer world. Jeff Bridges is excellent as the happy-go-lucky geek who is sucked into the computer. I think the best bit player (and comic relief) in the film is the "bit", a sprite that can only say "yes" or "no".

The best part of Tron for many of us is that it brings us back to the 80s when computers and video games were new. In that respect, the graphics aren't "not bad", they're perfect. This is especially true for those of us who played the Tron video game.

The message aspects of the film aren't as subtle as I might like, and may annoy some viewers. The biggest trouble with the film is that Hollywood special effects have advanced so far by now that younger viewers (for whom recent films are the FX standard) might see the effects as comparable to Clutch Cargo, and never look past them.

The Bonus Features are better than many similar products, including an all new documentary.

The story is interesting, and the acting is quite good. Tron is great fun for those of us who remember it, and still a good time for the rest of the audience.

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