Evan Peters Archives - Sean Kelly On Movies

The Grid enters the real world in Tron: Ares. The tech company ENCOM, led by the current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee), is in a race with rival Dillinger Systems, led by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), to find a way to permanently create digital constructs in the real world, which currently are only able to last for 29 minutes. Dillinger uses his highly advanced security program, Ares (Jared Leto), to hack into ENCOM's servers and try to find the "permanence code" created decades ago by Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Ares finds empathy with humanity, which leads him to rebel against Dillenger's directives and help Eve. As such, Dillinger tasks Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) to finish the job and acquire the "permanence code" by any means necessary. This leads towards a full-on invasion by the constructs of The Grid. Tron: Ares Synopsis Tron: Ares is the standalone third entry of the franchise directed by Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales). The film arrives 15 years after 2010's legacy sequel Tron: Legacy, the events of which are only briefly alluded to in this film. Jared Leto stars as the titular Ares, a security construct designed by Julian Dillinger, played by Evan Peters, the grandson of the original film's antagonist Edward Dillinger, completely ignoring the character of Edward Dillinger Jr, played by Cillian Murphy in Tron: Legacy. Dillinger's ruthless desire to win the race to acquire Kevin Flynn's "permanence code" is looked upon disapprovingly by his mother, Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson). Meanwhile, Eve Kim, played by Greta Lee, reluctantly takes the reins of ENCOM after the death of her sister Kim (Selene Yun), in an effort to finish what her sister started. Travelling to Alaska with her colleague Seth Flores (Arturo Castro), Eve manages to find the permanence code on one of Kevin Flynn's old computers. This makes her a target of Dillinger, who sends Ares and Athena after her to acquire the code. My Thoughts on Tron: Ares 2010's Tron: Legacy was one of the earliest examples of what are now known as legacy sequels. The film was released as the original Tron, from 1982, was approaching its 30th anniversary. It upgraded the blocky visuals of the original with the then-state-of-the-art 3D computer effects, aside from the uncanny valley de-aging of Jeff Bridges, and a killer soundtrack composed by Daft Punk. A potential third film was meant to continue the story of Tron: Legacy, which ended with Olivia Wilde's Quorra becoming the first digital construct to enter the real world. After multiple failed attempts to get that third film off the ground, Disney instead went into production of a standalone sequel, which writes off Garrett Hedlund's Sam Flynn with lines of dialogue, while also planting the seeds that he and Quorra may return if future Tron movies are produced. Instead, Tron: Ares stars Jared Leto, reportedly a lifelong Tron fan, as the new protagonist of Ares, who begins as a construct for the antagonist Edward Dillinger, before moving in a more heroic direction as the film progresses. While the fifteen-year gap between Tron: Ares and Tron: Legacy is not as steep as the 28-year gap between the latter and the 1982 original, it still feels like too much time has passed for Tron to be a viable franchise. There was a notable visual upgrade in Tron: Legacy, in comparison to the very early CGI in the original film. Combined with a returning Jeff Bridges and a great score by Daft Punk, Tron: Legacy felt like a successful relaunch of Tron for a new generation. Tron: Ares, on the other hand, doesn't feel like it brings anything new to the table, other than being a visually darker film with its red and black colour scheme. Even the concept of digital constructs entering the real world, teased at the end of Tron: Legacy, feels like nothing truly spectacular in Tron: Ares. If the logic of the film is to be believed, all you need is a particle laser to be able to have these digital beings enter the real world for at least half an hour. Then there is the return of Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, an appearance that was reportedly meant as a surprise, but included in the marketing after Bridges himself revealed his involvement in the film. The film glosses over how Kevin Flynn is still living after sacrificing himself at the end of Tron: Legacy, though it could be described as the Tron universe's version of a force ghost. Jeff Bridges is a welcome inclusion in the film, but he ultimately seems to only be in the film for fan service and to add some connective tissue to the rest of the franchise. If there is one gimmick of Tron: Ares that works, it is having Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross release their heavily synthesized score for the film under the Nine Inch Nails band name. Of course, this is a bit of smoke and mirrors, since apart from a handful of rock songs with Trent Reznor on vocals, including the single "As Alive as You Need Me to Be," the score doesn't differ too greatly from the other film scores composed by the duo. That said, the music still ends up being the best element of Tron: Ares, including a moment of Ares describing his love of Depeche Mode, which seems inspired by American Psycho (one of Jared Leto's early film roles). Tron: Ares ends with the hint that there may be more films in the future, including a mid-credits tease. However, it might be too little, too late for this franchise. Tron: Ares might be fine for what it is, but I'm not really clamouring for more.

Evan Peters

Tron: Ares

Dark Phoenix

X-Men: Apocalypse