Movie Review: ‘Tron: Ares’ – A Dazzling, Overstuffed Sequel That Leans Hard on Nostalgia

Disney has never been a studio to leave a legacy property in the digital dust, and so, decades after the cult classic original and years after the stylish sequel, we are beckoned back to the Grid. For a franchise about the space between the human and digital worlds, Tron itself has always been trapped in a similar limbo—caught between its groundbreaking ambitions and mainstream acceptance. Tron: Ares, the long-awaited third entry, understands its mandate perfectly: deliver the iconic light cycles, the lethal identity discs, and, most importantly, the zen master presence of Jeff Bridges. Director Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) checks all those boxes and then some. In fact, he checks them so vigorously that the film buckles under the weight of its own excess.

The plot is a clever, if convoluted, attempt to both honor the past and sprint into the future. The film opens on a corporate cold war between two tech titans: the idealistic Encom and the nefarious Dillinger Ltd. (a clear stand-in for Apple vs. Google). Both have hit the same technological wall: they can materialize anything in the real world using laser-based fabrication, but their creations have a 29-minute half-life before disintegrating into ash. (A winking metaphor, perhaps, for our own dwindling attention spans.) The race is on to find the mythical “Permanence Code,” a digital holy grail created by Bridges’ Kevin Flynn back in the era of floppy disks. The stakes are cartoonishly high: if Encom’s white-hat hacker CEO (a brilliantly sharp Greta Lee) finds it, it could mean free global healthcare; if Dillinger’s smirking, villainous chief (a perfectly cast Evan Peters) secures it, he’ll build a fascist army of super-soldiers.

Enter the title character: Ares, played with ethereal intensity by Jared Leto. He is Dillinger’s master-control AI, a program executing his human boss’s ruthless orders with cold precision. The film’s central—and most engaging—arc belongs to him. Initially robotic, a “glitch” in his wiring causes him to develop empathy, longing, and a desire to become “real.” Yes, Tron: Ares proudly wears its Pinocchio influences on its sleek, illuminated sleeve. Leto is surprisingly effective, capturing the awkward, burgeoning consciousness of a being discovering its own soul. He delivers his lines with a measured, otherworldly cadence and moves with a rock star’s swagger, whether he’s executing slow-motion somersaults to avoid deadly discs or piloting a light cycle at mind-bending speeds.

Yet, for all its digital spectacle, the film’s true heartbeat is human. Greta Lee, as the film’s moral compass and action heroine, is the standout. She brings a grounded urgency and wit that cuts through the neon haze, providing an emotional anchor the narrative desperately needs. Jodie Turner-Smith is equally compelling as Ares’ formidable deputy, a program whose loyalty is as complex as her combat skills.

The screenplay, by Jesse Wigutow, tries to leaven the existential dread with pockets of humor, though the timing often feels misplaced, landing awkwardly next to moments of genuine peril. The callbacks are plentiful, from visual nods to The Wizard of Oz and Frankenstein to a running gag where Ares develops a fascination with 1980s synth-pop, particularly Depeche Mode—a direct and delightful echo of Wendy Carlos’s iconic score for the 1982 original.

And speaking of music, the sonic throne once held by Daft Punk for Tron: Legacy has been passed to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. They are a perfect, if predictable, choice. Their score is a magnificent onslaught of menacing mechanical textures and throbbing synth bars that doesn’t just accompany the action but actively is the action, creating an atmosphere of relentless, industrial anxiety. (Fans will delight in their cameo as grid-fighter pilots.)

All this digital struggle and synth-wave grandeur builds to the moment the franchise has been waiting for: the return of The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges. His arrival is the film’s true payoff, the injection of warm, weathered humanity it so desperately needs. When he smiles at Leto’s creation and mutters, “Fascinating,” the film’s nostalgic engine finally ignites. In that moment, the deafening spectacle fades into the background, and we’re reminded of the simple, human wonder that made us want to enter the Grid in the first place. It’s a brief, brilliant reminder that beneath all the cutting-edge code, the heart of Tron has always been, and will always be, analog.

Bottom Line: Tron: Ares is a sensory overload—a film so determined to dazzle you with its spectacle that it occasionally forgets to make you care. It’s a flawed, often exhausting, but visually stunning ride that ultimately justifies its existence with a strong emotional core and a welcome dose of legacy charm.

Tron: Ares, a Walt Disney Studios release, hits theaters on Friday. It is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action. Running time: 119 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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