Tron

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding cinematic cyberpunk SF classic!
Review: Before I start, let me just say that I have loved TRON since I first saw it in the theaters in the summer of 1982. I was 8 years old then, and while I can now, at age 28, recognize the plot holes and sometimes hammy acting, back in '82 TRON was a breathtakingly good romp. Since 1982 I have seen TRON literally hundreds of times. Perhaps thousands? I lost count a long time ago. For whatever reasons, I never get tired of it, and while some other SF and fantasy fans can claim to have viewed Star Wars or Star Trek hundreds or thousands of times, I'd have to say that, for me, TRON is at the top of the pile.

Getting down to brass tacks, and without spoiling the plot, TRON is a lot like BLADERUNNER in that it was way ahead of its time, and therefor suffered audience and critical apathy in the year of its release. I don't think people were ready for either film, and perhaps not coincidentally both TRON and BLADERUNNER dovetail to form the cinematic bedrock of the Cyberpunk genre on the silver screen. No cyberpunk movie made since 1982 can escape comparison to TRON and BLADERUNNER; either because of Bladerunner's grimy and dystopic future cityscapes, or Tron's abstract and surreal CGI-generated "world inside the computer".

In the years since its release, TRON has been much slower to attract the critical and public acclaim that is now heaped on BLADERUNNER. But the acknowledgement is coming just the same, and Disney's 20th anniversary efforts are proof of that. The DVD set itself is a wealth of refurbished footage, more colorful and vibrant than ever seen on VHS, along with piles of goodies wrapped up in a very TRONish menu. One can spend hours flipping through the electronic pages of the bonus CD, and some of the cut footage like the 'love scene' fills in some holes that have always been apparent in the original release.

I would especially recommend TRON to that generation of movie-goers who only know cyberpunk through films like THE MATRIX or perhaps the truly awful LAWNMOWER MAN movies. Watch this film if only to get a taste of what things were like when the fusion of computers with public life was in its infancy. Those of us who grew up in the 70's and the 80's knew a special kind of electronic magic, before the internet, before truly virtual realities. Take a wayback-machine voyage to the epoch of the quarter arcade, when the Atari 2600 was the home game console of choice, and we all blasted pixelated bad guys to the guitar riffs of punk and New Wave rock.

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Rating:
Summary: Tron was...Bad. End of line.
Review: End of line(the movie's tag line) is an appropriate phrase. End of thought would have been more appropriate for the writers of this story and script. Tron was visually stunning - at first. Eventually, you realize that there is no real photography except for the faces of the "programs." This is done in black and white. The rest of the figures and props are in color, but most of the background is simply black. The box's summary of the movie is misleading. Tron himself is bland and not especially heroic, the villian (the master control program!)is disappointing visually, especially when compared to it's completely evil voice. The scene progression is jerky, with characters added and removed with no reasons given. The end is completely confusing. It really looks like it was simply pasted on when the rest of the movie was done. It makes very little sense. Nothing was explained.

The movie might have been easier to follow if there had been an extra hour or so of explanatory scenes, but that would make it even more boring.

As a final note, Tron should be watched, but only as a comparison to other excellent efforts by Disney such as "Toy Story" and others.

Rating:
Summary: Buy it for the Special Features
Review: Assuming you've seen the movie, I'm not going to give a review of that. The special features of this 2 DVD set are what makes this different than many other DVDs.

First off "The Making of Tron" is amazing. I never understood how much pain staking time went into the development and shooting of this movie. They describe ever last detail about how they make this unique look and feel never seen in any other movie. Now that I've seen this, I have since watched the movie in a whole new light.

My recommendation is to watch the movie, then the making of, and then watch the movie again (obviously not all in the same day :) You'll find yourself appreciating every detail and graphic.

There's even a fully produced love scene that was fully digitized and left out at the last minute! This is a must see for Tron fans. There are also art galleries full of stills to flip through.

I give this DVD 5 stars simply because of all the cool content included.

Rating:
Summary: The best bonus material in DVD around!
Review: Some people claim that keep childish likes to maturity is a signal of something's going wrong with your personality.That you are a kind of Peter Pan who avoids responsability and seriosity.
Well,I'm afraid I am absolutely guilty of that.I want to keep that "child" within me.
That child in 1982 was 8 years old.And I remember standing astonished in front of the silver screen,watching this movie.
Those colors...that action...the (let's admit it-childish-) plot...caught me forever.
And I'm sitting here,21 years afterwards, at work (hehe)writing a review for a new visual support:DVD.And still loving each frame of this movie.
I am still figuring out how they could do those magnificient special effects (it was 82,my friends!!)...stop!I am not figuring out no more... the extras of this version (filling an entire DVD itself)explain the whole deal.And in case you are not enough pleased, lots and lots of features,photo galleries,F/X,inerviews with cast and crew...
Steve Lindsberger, the director, explain all the process of the movie since day one.His previous projects,the computer companies that work for the film...
The whole cast except for David Warner is also present!A lot of funny anecdotes are explained.
My vote for the best DVD with extras ever!It's awesome!
The quality of sound and image is crystal clear, most of all you can watch again and again those colours without losing a simple bit of resolution.I'll throw my worn out video tape to the garbage in a ritual!
The light cycle sequences, the sea of simulation, the arena...they now look greater than ever,thrilling as always.
I'm not telling you anything about the movie,because you know it already,folks.Well,on second thought...this is the movie where a guy gets into a computer and has to fight his way out to come back to the outside world.Right?It's cool to watch the electronic personalities or alter-egos of the main characters.Jeff Bridges is fantastic and charismatic as always.You have to love him!
It's a pleasure to have the chance of watching the movie more than 1000 times.Sure that my childish "alter-ego" will be eternally grateful.
Remember:Seeing things as children do is beautiful sometimes.It reminds me of how important is to keep the capacity of amaze yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Special Edition
Review: This DVD special edition is packed with extas, interviews, a few deleted scenes and a short history of computer animation, but then you really want to know about the film don't you?

Basically a guy gets sucked into a computer and is forced to play computer games to survive - yeah, my review ...! This is actually quite a good film.

Are you paranoid about computers taking over the world? If so, don't watch this as you'll get too many goofy ideas.

Rating:
Summary: VideoGame Nostalgia
Review: I first watched TRON when I was too young to remember, but I do remeber watching it. So when I bought my DVD-Player I wanted to buy this DVD. Well, what can be said about Tron? It has aged, the FX are not what I remembered, the story seems weaker but anyway, I liked the movie, I had a few good ol' memories watching it again... and you've gotta love the Light-cycle scenes... This DVD also has a good pack of extras. So, bottom line, if you liked the movie, get this DVD, even tought it can wipe away all those memories of how cool this movie was when first released, and show you the reality it is now.

Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking movie, PLAYSTATION 2 USERS BEWARE!!!!!
Review: I can remember seeing this movie when I was around 5 or 6 and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Of course it looks very dated compared with the visual effects of today, but this movie is so original its worth owning. A word of caution to owners of Playstation 2. This movie has a major video glitch that cannot be fixed, in chapter 8 when flynn and RAM are talking the video turns into a grid of little green blocks and the only way to stop it from happening is to fast forward through that part. I would give this 5 stars if not for that problem.

Rating:
Summary: Misdirected review request
Review: I bought this movie for my dad, so I really can't review it. Ask him what he thinks of it, not me.

Rating:
Summary: Its still [bad] after all these years...
Review: I caught a glimpse of this re-issue. Well, if you really liked the original movie you'll love this, but the movie itself was about as briliiant as Disneys "Black Hole".

It's a laughable attempt to capitalize on the 80's video game craze, and is just about as good as the 70's cb craze movies (breaker breaker good buddy!).

To each his own - the DVD is pretty, but it's about as bad as "sci-fi" can get. It's a just plain stupid plot. ...

Rating:
Summary: For All Fans of Special Effects
Review: TRON is one of the most overblown kid movies ever made. The plot, in which a hacker is sucked into a computer and must battle evil programs to escape(!), is ludicrous on so many levels that you'll probably be tempted to just skip the first fifteen minutes of the movie all together. And why not? After all, it's the special effects that are the lone saving grace of this film.

But what a saving grace they are! This film looks GREAT. The filmmakers did a perfect job of capturing a uniquely 80s view of the inside of computers and video games. There is talk of a sequel, and if it comes to fruition, I can promise you that, while it may look very different, it won't look any better than the original TRON. It can't. This film is a feast for the eyes, and the stupid plot (that tries very obviously to be a religious parable) actually enhances the experience by giving us the opportunity to turn off our brains and sit back and enjoy the visuals. A must have for any fan of visual effects.