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The matrix of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.