Release Date – 12/17/2010
Sam Flynn hasn’t seen his father in over 20 years. One night his Dad mysteriously disappeared and since then his video game company has expanded into a worldwide entity. Sam is a rebel and not willing to take over the multi-million dollar enterprise but also doesn’t want to see it become something his father didn’t stand for. One night his father’s longtime friend explains how he got a page from his old arcade that has been shut down for decades. Sam goes to investigate and is warped into the cyberspace world that his father helped create. There he meets a programmed version of his Dad who is running a dictatorship over all the other Programs. Meanwhile his actual father is trapped in this world, hiding from the computerized version of himself for fear that he will find a way to cross over into the real world. One word describes this movie, WILD! Its like Star Wars meets The Matrix with more amazing visuals. The story is nothing special which is the only real downer but it sure is great to look at.
Sam Flynn is played by Garrett Hedlund. He’s 27 years old now and still not over the fact that his Dad disappeared when he was a young boy. He is constantly on the run from the law and causing problems with the big wigs that took over his Dad’s company. One day that all changes when he is sucked into cyberspace by one of his Dad’s old creations. From here on out, we are in this new world for the rest of the movie. Sam is captured right away and thought to be a runaway Program. He’s put into battles with other Programs for the community’s entertainment. When they discover he’s not a Program, but a User, he’s sent to meet Clu. Clu is played by Jeff Bridges but with a creepy CGI young face. It seriously weirded me out through most of the movie. But Jeff Bridges also gets his actual face on a character as Kevin Flynn, the aged wiseman of this world. Olivia Wilde plays Flynn’s protégé Quorra, a Program that has been taught to protect Users and help Flynn. Sam, Kevin, and Quorra try to find a way to get out of the cyberspace world and back into the real world without being followed. All the actors did their best with what they were offered, not much in the story department.
When I say the movie resembles Star Wars, I’m not kidding around. There’s an Emperor character, a Darth Vader, Obi Wan and Luke & Leia. Of course they aren’t spot on but you can see the similarities throughout the movie. And the world they created for this movie is a highly updated one from the 1982 film. Everything looks spectacular. Its so cool to see the motorcycles riding around The Grid leaving a trail behind them with this new, not out of date, CGI. Some of the coolest scenes happen when Sam is being put through tests when he first arrives in this crazy new world. But in the end it’s a father/son story that gets a little silly at times, a lot of times actually. Much like Avatar though, the story is secondary to the visuals. And while it may fall short in quality of 3D and visually stunning scenes when compared to James Cameron’s masterpiece, the director does his own thing to WOW the audience. I was just staring at the screen in disbelief of what I was watching. Daft Punk did an awesome job with the score too. Insane music. I’m sure in 30 years we’ll be laughing at how stupid Clu’s young Jeff Bridges face was and how outdated the music sounds. Much like I laughed at the original Tron when I just recently watched it. But for the time being, its pretty awesome stuff. It’s a great big screen debut for director Joseph Kosinski who is no joke with his CGI work. Two screenwriters from the TV show LOST didn’t exactly live up to the hype and had just too much nonsense in the story. But in the end, I would definitely watch it again.
IMDB – 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 48%
Movie Wiseguys – 7/10