Tron meh-age

[daddytodd]

Ok, so I was already in my 20's when Tron was released. I thought it had some cool graphix, but sucked as, you know, a narrative. I haven't thought about it in decades. Those were pretty good decades.

Now the belated sequel is coming, and the entirety of Beardom seems to be squeeing in unison. I couldn't possibly be more "meh" about the prospect of a Tron sequel.

Is it an age thing? What am I missing here? Why is Tron Legacy the bear equivalent of a new Twilight movie?

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

First off - I think the comparison to Twilight is off-base. If you want to quantify the squee-age, I'm sure there's a less-offensive reference point.

I disagree about the original's narrative; no, it's not complicated - it's a pretty straightforward story about good vs. evil. Does that make it "suck"? I don't think so. One could argue that Star Wars (which really does suck *grin*) is in a similar category.

I'm excited about it because - unlike the 2009 Star Trek disaster - it looks like they're going to do the update/revisit thing right. Not to mention it looks visually gorgeous. I love the fact they got both Bruce Boxleitner and Jeff Bridges back as Alan Bradley and Kevin Flynn. I love that they're not pretending nearly 30 years hasn't gone by. I love that they're using that timespan to "reboot" (ha!) the Electronic World rather than doing some lame-ass "parallel universe" garbage... *grin*

I love the intensely geeky way they're promoting the film. I wish I'd been one of the people who got a couple of "Flynn's Arcade" tokens in the mail... not to mention the people who got a "Bit"!

I love that the original teaser trailer made me wonder about so many things; what's going on in the Electronic World? Why is Flynn there? Why is there a younger looking version of him doing stuff like that? The recent teaser just broadens my interest in what's going on. I knew Bruce Boxleitner was involved, but the first time I heard his voice in the new trailer a chill ran down my spine.

The only complaint I'd have about it at this point is something they may be keeping as a surprise: I think David Warner (Ed Dillinger/Sark/voice of the MCP) should have an appearance in the film. We'll see.

I don't know if any of this will answer your questions. People have tried to explain to me over and over why they love movies I find incomprehensible or loathesome, and they've rarely changed my point of view - though more often I've gotten an inkling as to why someone else might like a particular film, even though I don't.

[daddytodd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Star Trek '09 sucked as a narrative, too. So do the Transformers movies. That doesn't change my opinion of the original Tron in any way.

My recollection of Tron was that it was about as effective a narrative as other Disney films from that era, such as Pete's Dragon, The Black Hole and The Rescuers Down Under (to name three that I can recall from my teens & early '20's.) I don't hold Tron in special disregard; I simply don't hold it in much of any regard at all. It was what it was, which wasn't at all memorable to me.

You indicate what you like that you've heard about the sequel, but I still haven't heard why you hold the original film in high regard -- or even if you do -- and why you think it's sequel-worthy.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

One of the main reasons I am so fond of the original is that it was one of the rare productions that really spoke to me in terms of culture and fantasy. I wasn't obsessive, but I did love certain arcade video games. Despite the danger Flynn encounters - there's also an escapist fantasy there for the computer geek. In that world, I'd have the holy grail of nerditude - SPECIAL POWERS! And not because of being bitten by a radioactive spider or something - just because I'm a User. "God, root, what is difference?"

You can nitpick it to death, but there's something about the entire experience of the film that just grabs certain people.

"Like the man says, there's no problems, only solutions."