What Do The Critics Say?

"As hard as I tried to enjoy Tron: Legacy I kept wondering how much longer I would be trapped in the computer world on screen. A very belated sequel to the 1982 cult sci-fi, it is set almost entirely within the 'digital grid' of a computer into which Jeff Bridges’ games designer, Kevin, was sucked years previously. Frankly, none of it makes sense: much mumbo jumbo is spouted about a digital frontier 'reshaping the human condition', whatever that means; and it’s not much fun or even very exciting, taking a rather po-faced approach to such nonsense." Henry Fitzherbert DAILY EXPRESS "I first saw Tron in 1982, at the age of 14, when it played my local mall four-plex as part of a double feature with "Grease 2". I distinctly remember being blown away. The film had visuals that were groundbreaking for the time, and my friends and I were totally enthralled. Like its predecessor, the movie has enough dazzling visuals and awesome action to generally compensate for a story that often feels a little thin." Mike McGranaghan AISLE SEAT "Judged solely as eye-candy, the follow-up, enriched by a superb soundscape crafted by Daft Punk, merits a recommendation. But as optically impressive as it is, it's also dramatically inert. Yet all the dazzle couldn't salvage an absurd premise, uninvolved characters or a narrative as graceless as an Atari-era car phone." Kevin Williamson JAM! MOVIES "A minor guilty pleasure for me because the film really has very little to offer outside of shallow pleasures. It's a fetishist's movie, full of neon lights, body-tight suits that have the appearance of leather, slick vehicles, and the sights and sounds of a nightclub populated by space age people. An excessive vision that is all too appropriately employed in the successor to a movie that could not originally fully achieve that rendering. That predecessor was, of course, Tron, a movie I couldn't embrace even back when I was a young kid obsessed with video games." Jeffrey Chen WINDOW TO THE MOVIES

"If you remember anything about Tron, the sci-fi flop to which this overblown, clumsily written sci-fi spectacle is a belated sequel, it's probably the backlit neon vector graphics, proto computer animation and goofy Lycra suits. It wasn't a particularly story-driven film, and nor was it a film that really stood the test of time. Though fairly true to the endearingly gibberish spirit of the first film, Tron: Legacy suffers even more noticeably in its efforts to furnish what should be a relatively straight-ahead action-adventure story: it's a Disney film, remember; aimed primarily at kids." Alistair Harkness SCOTSMAN "The special effects are award-caliber in this sequel to the 1982 Tron, the pioneering cult film in computer technology. Director Joseph Kosinski has a recipe for adventure that should delight gamers. Non-techies are on their own." Peter Travers ROLLING STONE "It will sort of satisfy the fans who have been waiting decades for it to appear, though it is doubtful that they will venerate it to the degree that they did with the first one." Peter Sobczynski eFILMCRITIC "The movie has plenty of action, but it is hampered by fits and starts. Dead spots, where characters simply stand around and spew expository dialogue, abound." Bob Bloom JOURNAL & COURIER "There's really no way around it: TRON: Legacy is almost certainly the shallowest film of 2010. It is huge and shiny; it sounds like God himself was tinkering in the editing booth; the female lead is about as hot as it gets, and she spends every minute in a form-fitting costume with brightly colored lines in all the right places. It is in possession of a third act that seems almost proud of all the sense that it doesn't make. It's all such a rapturous, body-encompassing sensory experience that the sheer pointlessness of the story: is rather easy to ignore." Tim Brayton ANTAGONY & ECSTASY

The Inside Story First released in 1982, the original "TRON" was Walt Disney Studios’ groundbreaking high-tech film from visionary writer and director Steven Lisberger, who went on to become a producer on "TRON: Legacy". "TRON" pioneered the use of computer graphics, virtual sets and backlit effects. Its unique blend of seventy millimetre live action, CG, and hand-drawn animation was a major motion-picture studio first. As a result, "TRON" became a cult classic that has remained firmly in the currents of popular culture for more than a quarter of a century and is now cherished as a defining moment for effects movies. Today’s exciting technological advances led to some exhilarating possibilities in visualizing a "TRON" stand-alone follow-up film that would play to present-day audiences. With Generation XBOX hooked into the Internet, phones that are tiny computers and everyone playing games wirelessly, the world we live in was only dreamt of when "TRON" was made. Steven Lisberger (1987's "Hot Pursuit" starring John Cusack & Jerry Stiller) was instrumental in trying to get "TRON: Legacy" off the ground. "We started discussions at Disney about ten years ago. I’ve seen numerous Disney executives go from black hair to grey in those years, and the film itself has changed over the years and gone through many different phases. When it emerged more recently, I think there was a sense that the right group of people somehow had now all arrived at the right spots. We explored some roads before this, but after a while we realized they really didn’t resonate with the times. But this storyline did." Producer Sean Bailey ("Matchstick Men" & "Gone Baby Gone"), who was then president of Idealogy Inc, revealed that he and his team were brought on board to speed up development around four years ago. "Disney had played around with a couple of drafts written in the 1990s and couldn’t find something they were satisfied with, so they brought us on to see what we could do. We were honestly just developing, coming up with ideas and meeting with writers." For those who didn't see the original in its cinematic release, "TRON: Legacy" is technically "a stand-alone film. You can come to this movie clean and enjoy it, and the story will hold up for what it is," says Bailey. As the movie was bubbling along in early development, a lucky break saw co-producer Justin Springer discover director Joseph Kosinski’s test reel almost by accident. Despite Kosinski’s lack of movie experience, his talent was clearly proven in his unique visionary approach as a commercial director on campaigns such as "Halo", "Gears of War" and Nike. Armed with a degree in architecture from Columbia University, Kosinski has a flair for design and aesthetics as well as a comfort level with digital technology that comes through in his work. "The whole way we make movies is changing, and I’m convinced Joe Kosinski is one of the leaders of that revolution," Bailey stated. "I met Joe and was immediately struck by his vision, his story sense and his confidence. We then went into the studio and talked about how we wanted to advance the process. The confidence Joe inspired is what got us to that first VFX test." Kosinski, Bailey and the rest of the team convinced the Disney executives to authorize a proof-of-concept test, which was a short film showing what today’s technology could do with the iconic elements of the "TRON" digital world, such as Lightcycles and disc battles. The result was an amazing piece of footage that wowed the crowd at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con and the filmmakers got approval to start work on the film itself. The electronically produced music also was re-imagined, thanks to Daft Punk, the visionary pioneers of the art form. When Joseph Kosinski came on board, he heard that the two time 2009 Grammy Award winning 'Daft Punk', whose art form and style were influenced by the original "TRON", were interested in the 'Legacy' project. A pancake breakfast in Hollywood soon followed, where the three talked about Kosinski’s vision for the film. These three artists ("Kosinski", Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo & Thomas Bangalter) found themselves on the same creative page and began working on the score very early on in the filmmaking process. The score took shape over the course of three years and is a unique combination of orchestra, electronic and granular sounds. The duo worked closely with the filmmakers not only on the score, but on the sound design too, especially the moments where the sound design and room tones bleed into cues. It was a very sophisticated musical approach: a layering blend that occasionally blurs the line between music and sound design; in what could be described as a very interesting way. "We've got over one hundred minutes of music in this movie. And it's so tied to the visuals because we had it so early, I just can't imagine this film without it," Kosinski notes. In 1982, when Kevin Flynn made it out of the Grid alive and back in control of Encom, the company he founded with his longtime friend and associate, Alan Bradley, everyone assumed Kevin would be content with developing and producing popular games. On the surface, that appeared to be so: Kevin married, had a son, Sam, and settled into fatherhood while he and Alan grew Encom into a video game powerhouse. But unbeknownst to outsiders, Kevin was still experimenting with teleportation, making frequent visits back to the Grid from the privacy of his secret lab hidden beneath Flynn’s Arcade. Then one day Kevin simply vanished, and Sam was left alone with no father and no answers. Now twenty years "TRON: Legacy" begins. "From the very beginning, Sean Bailey and I told the studio that this movie was going to be a father-son story. And that’s really what the heart of "TRON: Legacy" is," says Kosinski. "It was very important to us, amidst all this visual spectacle, to focus on a father/son story; this is about a boy who’s lost his dad, who’s now grown up and, as a man, he has scarring from that. Then, he learns that his father’s disappearance may not have been all that he thought," says Bailey, "and there’s a chance for them to rebuild their relationship." "Our goal is to make sure we’re serving our story the best way we can. And the visuals, the effects, the music, the performances and the style all support that." The estrangement and rediscovery between father and son is the story’s emotional entry point. "You’re coming into this spectacular domain and you need someone to experience it through. That’s how we approached developing Sam’s character. You’re discovering the Grid through Sam’s eyes, and you’ll also discover Flynn through Sam," says Adam Horowitz, who co-wrote the screenplay with Edward Kitsis. The story aspect of Flynn still being alive and the father-son story is really compelling in "TRON: Legacy". "It will resonate with the fan base, but if someone hasn’t seen the first film, it doesn’t matter: the story will work for him or her too," Lisberger ("Animalympics") feels. "One of the underlying elements of the story is technology. It’s so exciting to realize all the things that you can do. But what's happening with technology is that it is developing so fast that we haven’t really developed any ethics to go along with it, or knowledge of what some of the ramifications of this technology will be," says Oscar ® winning actor Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart"), who reprises his role of Kevin Flynn. With 1994 Independent Spirit Award winner Bridges ("American Heart") on-board, the next task the filmmakers faced was to find the right actor to play Flynn's son, Sam. Hundreds of hopefuls auditioned for the part but in the end it went to newcomer Garrett Hedlund ("Friday Night Lights" & "Four Brothers"). Hedlund had to train in motorcycle riding, hand-to-hand combat, wirework, capoeira and parkour to prepare for the role of the extreme sportsman Sam. But Bridges ("The Big Lebowski") took Hedlund under his wing, and helped prepare the young actor for the demands of such effects-heavy film work. "I’ve always looked at him like the kind of father any kid would love to have, because he’s got that playful side, while he’s also incredibly wise," Bridges notes. 2008 Vail Film Festival Rising Star Award winning actress Olivia Wilde joined the cast as Quorra, a skilled warrior who is Kevin Flynn’s confidante. Wilde had never played such a physically demanding role but was up for the training she and Hedlund had to undertake in preparation for their roles. "I had never done anything as physical as this film, and it required more than I ever expected, which is great. Luckily, we had such an incredible team of trainers," Wilde ("House" & "Turistas") revealed. Wilde loved playing the strong, spunky character Quorra. "It’s fantastic to be able to play a very strong, capablewoman, in what could be considered a very male-centric film. She’s a very important part of the story, and a female role unlike anything I've ever seen before." 2009 Evening Standard British Film Award winner Michael Sheen ("Frost/Nixon") needed less of an introduction to the world of effects projects, following his role as Lucian in the "Underworld" films. For "TRON: Legacy", Sheen was cast as Castor, a dandified club owner. Treading the line between darkness and light, Castor presented an interesting possibility for Sheen. "I'm a program. I’m not actually a person. But because, in the digital world of the Grid, the programs are all personified, then it’s quite interesting to ask, 'What sort of program is he?' My character’s been around since the earliest days, or so he says, so I had to work out his place in terms of the history of the "TRON" world." Rounding out the "TRON: Legacy" cast are: Bruce Boxleitner ("Heroes" & "Babylon 5"), resprising his role as Alan Bradley, Flynn’s partner during the firm’s golden years and now a 'shelved' ENCOM exec who acted as guardian to Sam after Kevin’s disappearance; James Frain ("True Blood" & "The Tudors") as Clu’s henchman Jarvis, a program proficient in intelligence-gathering; and Beau Garrett ("Criminal Minds" & "Entourage") as Gem, the leader of the Sirens, who's purpose is to prepare other programs heading for gladiatorial challenges on the Grid. With Kosinski at the helm to steer the film’s look and Darren Gilford (Mike Judge's "Idiocracy") tapped as production designer, it was clear to both of them that keeping the first film’s spirit alive was key. "The first film established a look that was so iconic," Gilford explained, "and a lot of that was because of the limitations of the computer, what they really could do back in the 1980s. It was very geometric, very simplistic. With the computer technology we have now, it’s limitless what we can do. But we made a conscious decision that we would not go totally organic." Vancouver’s spectacular new Shangri-La Hotel at 1128 West Georgia Street Vancouver, B.C., doubled as Encom. Sam’s shipping container apartment was built on a wharf across the inlet from Vancouver to make best use of a stunning view of the city’s skyline. Other sets, including Flynn’s Arcade, Kevin’s safe house, and the End of Line Club were built on one of six sound stages. What's It All About?

Sam Flynn is a rebellious twenty seven year old, haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father, Kevin Flynn, a man once known as an icon, a visionary and the CEO of Encom, who skyrocketed to the top of the tech industry. But has he disappeared? That may not be the case. Suddenly, out of the blue, contact is made with Alan Bradley. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the office in the old Flynn’s Arcade: a signal that could only come from his father; he finds himself pulled into a digital grid where Kevin has been trapped for twenty years. With the help of the fearless warrior Quorra, father and son embark on a life or death journey across a visually stunning digital landscape created by Kevin himself that has become far more advanced, with never before imagined vehicles, weapons, landscapes and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to prevent their escape.

The Verdict "When screenwriter Sean Bailey says, "You can come to this movie clean and enjoy it, and the story will hold up for what it is," it immediately raises questions. Like: to who is he refering and what is the "what it is" that will leave cinemagoers feeling totally satisfied at the end of a what many will find is a very long, dragged out film. True, the special effects are stunning in their own way and yes, the storyline is visually enticing: but where "TRON: Legacy" lets audiences (other than gamers and one-eyed "TRON" fans) down; is in its incredibly boring dialogue and excessive run time of 125 minutes. Yes, it is a stand-alone edition, but it does help if you've seen the original: which by the way wasn't, except for its groundbreaking SFX and graphics in that era (December 1982), all what many people make it out to be; because the storyline does follow-on from it, with a twenty year timeline jump. The catalyst for this film is once again the computer game TRON at Flynn's Arcade (Encom 511 powered). Younger viewers and gamers will love the CGI & SFX, especially if they see it in stunning 3D as I did. One aspect of "TRON: Legacy" that cannot be overlooked is the intoxicating soundtrack composed by Grammy ® Award winners "Daft Punk". Outstanding! Will appeal to its target audience. 3 STARS." The Production Team

Director Producers Original Music Cinematography Film Editor Casting Production Design Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Design

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Joseph Kosinski Sean Bailey/Steven Lisberger/Jeffrey Silver Daft Punk Claudio Miranda James Haygood Heike Brandstatter/Sarah Finn/Coreen Mayrs Darren Gilford Sean Haworth/Ben Procter/David Scott William Ladd Skinner/Grant Van Der Slagt Lin MacDonald Michael Wilkinson

Who Is Playing Who?

Jeff Bridges Garrett Hedlund Olivia Wilde Michael Sheen James Frain Bruce Boxleitner Beau Garrett Serinda Swan Yaya DaCosta Amy Esterle Brandon Jay McLaren Elizabeth Mathis Owen Best Michael Teigen Anis Cheurfa

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Kevin Flynn/Clu 2.0 Sam Flynn Quorra Castor Jarvis Alan Bradley Siren Jem Siren Siren Young Mrs Flynn Sobel Siren Young Sam Green Light Cycle Rider Rinzler

Run Time 125 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Disney Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.