Tron: Ares - 4K Digital Review

[Michael Scott]

Tron: Ares

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I was lucky enough to have grown up during all three ages of Tron. I was born a few months before the titular 1st film arrived in cinemas, and it was a defining bit of sci-fi (along with Star Wars) during my formative years. Twenty-eight years later, I was also one of the people who poo-pooed the concept of Tron: Legacy as being just a cash grab. Only to turn around and have Legacy be one of my favorite pulpy sci-fi films of 2010. Sure, it wasn’t the same as the 1982 classic, but it was FUN. Big budget, big effects, and Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde were actually pretty decent. But let's face it. Daft Punk’s score and the insane audio mix that came with the film were what really sold it to me. Disney was all ready and raring to go with a planned sequel out of the grid and in the real world, but the box office for Legacy wasn’t that hot, and plans were made, canceled, and made again until we are 15 years in the future.

Due to various rewrites, contract obligations, and the reticence of the stars of Legacy to come back for what would have turned out to be glorified cameos, we’re left with Tron: Ares. A film that highlights what could have been, taking the barest frameworks of the original plot line that would have been the sequel to Legacy and remaking it into something else. And of course, filling the lead role with the box office poison that is Jared Leto (seriously, amazing character actor, but as a leading man, he’s a near guarantee your film loses money). It’s been years, and Encom and the Dillinger Corp are still duking it out for supremacy in the digital world. The grid is being used by both companies to further modern tech, and they have figured out how to use high-tech digital lasers to digitize a program from the grid INTO the real world. While Encom wants to use it for housing, medication, etc., Dillinger’s CEO Julian (Evan Peters) is obsessed with weaponizing it.

The only problem both companies have is that the digitized programs can only exist in the real world for about 29 minutes before they’re de-rezzed. But of course, Flynn (Jeff Bridges) supposedly has some ancient 1980s code hidden away somewhere that would make things permanent for them (dubbed “the permanence code”….clever, right?). Encom CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) finds said code before Dillinger, which sets off a chain reaction as the increasingly unstable Dillinger sends his pet digital security program, code-named Ares (Jared Leto), after her, turning into a real-life grid battle out in our world.

Ares shows promise, but feels like it’s about 10 years too late and without the cast that would have made it a viable successor to Legacy. Sure, we’ve got the whole story about grid characters coming to the real world, like was teased in the finale, but EVERYONE (excepting a cameo from Jeff Bridges) is completely gone and written off like they didn’t exist. Sam is gone. Quorra is gone (and how did she withstand de-rezzing after 29 minutes? But she’s not even mentioned in the film), and Bruce Boxleightner famously announced months before the film opened that he was never even asked to reprise his role. The story focuses on Ares instead of Quorra, and it actually has some cool elements. A digital character looking for his “humanity” in a world where he was designed to follow orders is quite nice. Sadly, Leto plays the character like he did Michael Morbius, with barely better results. The story falls apart into nothing but a spectacle within about 40 minutes, and is a surprisingly slow burn in comparison. The first hour is punctuated with only one light cycle race, and the rest is rather low-budget looking. It’s not until Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith, playing Ares' second in command) comes out with the big guns to track down Ares that things light up a lot.

On the flip side, there are some cool elements to the story. The Daft Punk score made an indelible imprint on Legacy, and Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails score does the same for this film. Instead of the flashy cyberpunk feel of Daft Punk, Ares has a darker, grungier feel, and the score complements that perfectly. It’s gritty, nasty, and has that sort of rough industrial sound that NIN is known for, and complements the darker, blacker feeling of the story. That last 40-minute battle between Ares and Athena is downright awe-inspiring (although I felt the CGI in this film was easier to spot than the CGI in Legacy). It’s mildly fun, rather pulpy, and while it sadly can’t hold a candle to even Legacy, it worked for me in a sort of “enjoy it for the eye candy, and nothing more” mode. Similar to how I felt about Avatar.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for action/violence




Video:

As always, I’ll refrain from giving a star rating as this digital stream was from Movies Anywhere, which is bandwidth dependent and will vary from person to person’s internet connection. With that out of the way, this is going to be a killer visual experience no matter what format you’re viewing from. The 4K digital stream is gorgeous, with a wide array of color spectrums and gradings dependent on what location you’re in the movie. In the real world, things are dark and lightly blued, with a neutral grading that really brings forth the detail. Inside the grid, things get colorful fast, with Encom’s grid being blue (for the 5 minutes it’s shown), but Dillinger’s grid being black and red saturated, in a hellish tone. CGI and real-world practical effects are mixed, with some shots looking seamless and fantastic, while others (such as the confrontation within the Encom grid) look overly fake and very obviously CGI (at least it’s better than Clu’s face in Tron Legacy). Fine details are literally everywhere, with nuanced facial details and robust skin tones, down to the CGI lasers and lights that adorn the digitized world. Black levels are deep and inky, and the Dolby Vision application makes for some of the silkiest blacks I’ve ever seen. This is a very active and “shiny” Dolby Vision/HDR look, so expect tons of well-saturated colors, deep shadows, and a glossy look that is simply gorgeous.








Audio:

The Dolby Atmos track is a treat as well, though wildly different than Tron: Legacy. With Legacy, we had that very distinctive Daft Punk score that infused the movie with a pulsating and uplifting techno sound. This time, Disney had “Nine Inch Nails” do the score, which naturally shifts the mood to a more somber and grungy sound with NIN’s very distinctive use of industrial metal/electronica. The movie’s visuals are bent towards the hellish red look, and the NIN score amplifies that tone to the nth degree in the music. The Atmos track itself is very active, with constant surround and overhead usage thanks to all the battles and fight sequences. The dialog is clean and clear as a bell up in the front of the room, but it was the bass that surprised me. Maybe I was expecting the same massive bass bomb that was Tron: Legacy, but Ares is nowhere near the massive LFE bomb that Legacy was. Don’t get me wrong, this film is filled to the gills with bass, but it’s not that super hot and heavy bass that made Legacy a demo disc for many. That is, until the end, when Athena makes her move against Ares and Eve, when things go bonkers (in a good way).







Extras:

• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
-- The Journey To Tron: Ares: Go on a personal journey with Jared Leto, director Joachim Rønning, and other cast and crew members for an in-depth making-of look showcasing the stunning visuals, incredible stunts, cool (but heavy) costumes, and next-level sets of Tron: Ares.
-- Lightcycles On The Loose: Join director Joachim Rønning as he peels back the layers of one of the most action-packed sequences in the film. Discover what ILM and the artists who grew up loving the franchise contributed, and what other iconic film the sequence pays homage to.
-- The Artistry Of Tron: Ares: Director Joachim Rønning and actor-producer Jared Leto sit down to discuss their journey creating Tron: Ares. The pair unpack key moments and the striking visual, sonic, and artistic philosophies that drive the storytelling both in and out of the Grid.
-- Cast Conversations: Join the cast in candid conversations as they reflect on stepping into character, memorable on-set experiences, funny anecdotes, and personal insights. Get a glimpse of the off-screen camaraderie that shines in their electric on-screen synergy.
-- The Legacy Of Tron: Decades after Tron first took the world by storm, and with Tron: Legacy in between, there’s loads of nostalgia to mine for Tron: Ares. Catch some clever easter eggs and noteworthy cameos as this enduring franchise continues to leave its mark

Final Score: ​

Tron: Ares was Disney’s last attempt at revitalizing the fan favorite franchise, yet strangely still has a problem actually making money. Ares is a fun enough popcorn movie, but it suffered badly from being over a decade too late, a modified script that wrote out the characters from the last movie, and casting Jared Leto as the lead in the film (seriously? Leto is a fantastic character actor, but as a leading man, he always seems to lose the studio's money). All of which make for a mediocre movie that is set to be this year’s biggest box office flop, despite Disney very obviously setting up the film for a sequel. Tron: Ares is a fun enough romp in the vein of Legacy, but it has a casting and story problem that makes it feel alienated from the previous two. It looks and sounds gorgeous, though, which will probably make the physical 4K UHD one of this year's demo discs.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Jeff Bridges, Gillian Anderson, Jodie Turner-Smith
Directed by: Joachim Renning
Written by: Steven Lisberger, Bonnie MacBird, David DiGilio
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos
Subtitles: English
Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 119 Minutes
Digital Release Date: December 2nd, 2025

Recommendation: Decent Watch