MOVIE SCENE CANADA
TRON ARES
​I Disney Studios Canada I October 10, 2025 I 119 mins. I
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55%
* As of 10/08/25
CAST:
Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges
DIRECTOR(S):
Joachim Rønning
“TRON: Ares” follows a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.
REVIEW BY: Darren Zakus - 10/08/25
RATING 3 out of 5
TRON: Ares delivers a big screen spectacle with stunning visual effects and a bombastic musical score from Nine Inch Nails that when combined captures the experience that audiences love about this series, but with an uninspiring story that fails to capture what made TRON so wondrous in the first place, leaves this sequel infected with malware that corrupts the overall experience.
Audiences first entered The Grid back in 1982 and were introduced to the world inside a computer in Steven Lisberger’s TRON, which developed a cult following after its release and helped introduce groundbreaking computer technology in filmmaking that without, we would not have computer generated animated films as we know them today. Director Joseph Kosinski gave the digital world an upgrade in 2010’s legacy sequel TRON: Legacy with a fantastic musical score from Daft Punk and jaw-dropping visual effects, giving TRON the franchise spark that led to new video games, theme park attractions and even an animated television series. While a sequel was quickly put into development after the success of TRON: Legacy that would continue the story of Sam Flynn and Quora, that film was eventually scrapped before a new film was pitched starring Jared Leto as the title character. Now, just shy of fifteen years after the release of TRON: Legacy, audiences are returning to The Grid with TRON: Ares, the next installment in the popular Disney franchise that once again features stunning CGI work to bring to life the digital world and a worthy musical score from Nine Inch Nails. But, the story fails to tap into the vast mythology of the world of TRON, instead developing a generic story that grapples with cautionary messaging about artificial intelligence and brings the digital world to our own, failing to recapture that magical wonder that made the first two films beloved by audiences.
The world of TRON is rich with mythology that has been the driving force behind the longevity of the series. From the exciting Disc Wars and Light Cycle Arena battles, users, programs, ISOs, TRON himself and the Master Controller Program, there is a wealth of ideas and characters in the franchise to develop stories with, yet, TRON: Ares largely ignores the stories that came before it. Bringing the programs of The Grid to our world, after multiple rewrites and iterations of the story, a lifeless story fills the film’s runtime. While the story is full of elements that viewers associate with the TRON franchise, mainly the Light Cycles, Rectifiers and zapping back and forth between the real world and The Grid, the events of the story are generic and could be the story of any major studio blockbuster, losing that interesting discussion of technology and humanity that had defined the previous films in the series. Though moving the programs in the direction of artificial intelligence is a natural progression that reflects our society’s gravitation towards artificial intelligence, it leads to cliché themes warning against artificial taking our control away, which is nothing new to Hollywood and has been done before (and better) by films such as The Terminator and Eagle Eye. And frankly, when the film is not focused on the action sequences and letting the Nine Inch Nails musical score blast through the theatre speaker system, where the film is at its most entertaining, and instead focusing on the dialogue and thin plot, it becomes boring pretty quickly. Despite some callbacks to the previous films that long time fans will appreciate and intriguing teases that are dropped in the film’s final scene and mid-credit scene about the future of the franchise, which promise a film far more interesting than TRON: Ares is, the long awaited sequel never for a second comes close to capturing the awe inspiring wonder and amazement that started the series over forty years ago.
It is almost a given that TRON: Ares looks absolutely phenomenal from a visual standpoint, as that director Joachim Rønning is tasked with making an expansive digital world that defies imagination a reality. With crisp computer generated animation and vibrant reds and blues to create the worlds of ENCOM and Dillinger Systems’ mainframes, Light Cycles, Rectifiers and disc battles come to life with a precise clarity. Seamlessly blending this fantastic CGI work with the city of Vancouver, where the film was shot, the digital world collides with ours creating exciting sequences throughout the entire film, including Light Cycle chases on city streets and one exhilarating final act that has all the mayhem and destruction audiences have come to expect from blockbuster films. Combined with great sound design that captures every sound of The Grid and the digital technology and great production design that not only upgrades The Grid as technology advances but pays homage to the original 1982 film in one memorable sequence, it's a big screen spectacle to behold that is only the more amazing to behold with the IMAX footage, demanding that TRON: Ares be seen on the biggest screen possible.
Following in the footsteps of Daft Punk’s revered musical score to TRON: Legacy is no easy feat, but Nine Inch Nails accomplish the task. With another electronic score that fits perfectly into the world of TRON, with the musical stylings of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (for the first time crediting their film scoring work to their band) propelling the entire film with an electrifying pace that puts even the loudest and best theatre sound system to the ultimate test. The result is a bombastic musical experience that matches the outstanding imagery on screen (though one that does not reach the magnificent heights of Daft Punk’s work in the previous film), helping to create one of the best audio visual experiences of any film this year.
While the visuals and audio design of the film ensure that audiences are having an exciting time, with the lacklustre story, the cast is left with little to work for the majority of the film. Jared Leto, all personal problems aside, is perfectly serviceable in the film with his too often one note performance that just happens to be exactly what the role of Ares requires, as artificial intelligence programs are not meant to have any personality. The ever talented Greta Lee tries to make the most of Eve Kim, the female CEO of ENCOM, holding her ground in the action sequences but the script never gives her the substance to deliver the excellent performance viewers have come to expect from her. Evan Peters chews on his material as the villainous CEO of Dillinger Systems, Julian Dillinger, but is weighed down by the simplicity of his character and is restrained from going truly evil. Longtime TRON fans will appreciate the return of Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, which while Bridges role is very minimal, it is one of the film’s more memorable moments as not only is Bridges great, it is the one scene in the screenplay that captures the mythology of TRON as a series. The standouts, without hesitation, are Jodie Turner-Smith as Ares, the program that goes full blown Terminator by the film’s third act, with Turner-Smith giving a chilling presence while on screen, and Gillian Anderson, though her inclusion is almost embarrassing as she appears for about 30 seconds at a time as Elisabeth Dillinger to deliver a zinger of a line before disappearing for another twenty minutes and re-appearing to repeat this pattern.
With Light Cycles ripping across the screen and Rectifiers causing havoc, it’s always an exciting time to return to the world of TRON, but TRON: Ares never comes close to capturing the excitement or wonder of its predecessors. Though from a visual point of view TRON: Ares is one of the most stunning films of the year and Nine Inch Nails’ musical score pulsates throughout the entire film and never for a second fails to excite, the story not only leaves the actors with little to work with, but creates a bland story that is not worthy to follow in the footsteps of the original TRON and TRON: Legacy. Despite serving up a big screen spectacle of stunning visual and audio proportions, TRON: Ares’ avoidance of the franchise’s mythology and generic storytelling prevents a good cast from creating the sequel that fans are owed after a decade of waiting and instead delivers lacklustre storytelling that leaves the future of the franchise into question.