Mankind encounters AI beings for the first time when a highly sophisticated programme, Ares, leaves the digital world for a dangerous mission in the real world.
Director: Joachim Rønning
Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Jeff Bridges, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%
Metacritic: 48 / 100
Some Reviews:
Next Best Picture - Giovanni Lago - 4 / 10
“Tron: Ares,” like many long-delayed legacy sequels, has long since crossed the threshold of necessity. It feels like a nostalgia-bait artifact designed purely to revive interest, a fact made even more evident by the inevitable sequel-baiting that will undoubtedly go nowhere. What’s worse for a movie that hopes to celebrate the beauty of humanity is that its message is told through the perspective of an artificial intelligence, aided by an almost hilariously Sorkin-esque portrayal of a billionaire who believes he’s making the world a better place. It’s a fantasy that falls short of being as sensorily stunning as it needs to be. If anything, “Tron: Ares” is less a film than a cinematic pin dropped in a franchise map that’s going absolutely nowhere.
The Hollywood Reporter - David Rooney
Tron: Ares is a separate story rather than a direct sequel to Legacy, meaning Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde’s characters are AWOL. It’s also a marked upgrade from its predecessor, with more dynamic visuals and muscular action sequences. Only occasionally does an actor look like they are cowering from some green-screen threat (Lee more than others). More often, the stakes are elevated thanks to greater use of physical sets and in-camera effects than in previous installments.
Slant Magazine - Jake Cole - 1.5 / 5
There’s a cheekiness to the composers’ deft incorporation of older styles into their present-day approach to soundtracks, but after a time even their cleverness exposes the film’s hollowness. For a story that seeks to champion the unpredictability and finite quality of life, Ares ultimately feels trapped by the inertia of working within the parameters set by its no less flimsy predecessors.
AwardsWatch - Erik Anderson - 'C+'
But the problem isn’t that Tron: Ares lacks any good ideas—it’s that it doesn’t know what to do with the stray threads it tugs at. By the back half, we’re down to the most uninspired impulses of studio filmmaking, complete with a character who exists purely to spout non-joke wisecracks (Arturo Castro as Eve’s friend Seth) and a climax that visually resembles every Marvel movie featuring some giant piece of floating machinery threatening the streets of New York. Tron will always have its dazzling baubles to ooh and aah at, but at the end of the day, Ares feels much like the AI tech companies keep insisting on shoving down our throats: technically impressive, but also frivolous and empty.
Empire - John Nugent - 3 / 5
It has about as much depth as a floppy disk, but some lovely, shiny CGI and a stunningly ear-shattering score from Nine Inch Nails makes for a fun if forgettable bit of futuristic fluff. Bio-digital jazz, man!
AV Club - Jesse Hassenger - 'B-'
Or maybe the early-2000s vibes of Tron: Ares really are that powerful, bending time to pluck a semi-canceled leading man from his prime. Certainly the movie’s ideas about A.I. (which it variously conflates with video game avatars, 3-D printing, and old-fashioned robots) don’t feel especially informed by anything happening in 2025. In the world of this movie, we’re still dawning on a potential new age of information revolution, or whatever, and the coming hybridized life is what we make of it, off-grid or on. And in the context of our world, that’s enough for Tron: Ares to work as escapism. The result is a pretty dumb movie with beautiful visual effects, cleanly shot action, and a kickass soundtrack. Wouldn’t it be great if the future of blockbusters was only this bleak?