Whatever mystique and allure the nascent world of computers held for moviegoers when Tron arrived in theaters in 1982 has certainly bypassed a generation raised on the Web and wireless communications. Which is why the very conceit of the Tron films — that they take place within the digital realm — can’t be expected to capture the imagination of modern audiences.
Fortunately, the visual representation of that world in Tron: Legacy is far more elaborate than that of its progenitor. But the artwork seems less an imaginative realization of the “grid” as it’s called than a nightmarish technospace of the future. And while it’s visually arresting, the design is also somewhat puzzling and disappointing, as the environment and its inhabitants regularly abide by the same laws of nature as our world on terra firma.
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2010.