Tron might not be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. I love both the original 1982 film and its 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy. They aren’t exactly flawless, but they are wonderfully strange, engaging, creative, original, and fun to look at. Going into Tron: Ares, the only thing I was sure would remain true was that it would be visually stunning. The movie’s trailers made it look—and yes, this is going to sound weird—too “good.” It looked overly polished, like someone made a “serious” Tron entry. A serious Tron movie sounds like an oxymoron. It also sounds like a recipe for a bad Tron movie. With a lot of the story taking place in the real world rather than the grid, that’s what I feared we’d get. It seemed like Ares was going to sacrifice the strangeness I love from these films in its quest for being “better.”
Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Tron: Ares is good, just not entirely in the way I’m used to from this franchise. Because while it is a shift for the series—rather than being a sci-fi movie with some action, it’s more of an action film with sci-fi—it’s still a movie made by people who love Tron. And that means it’s still just weird enough to work.
Tron: Ares revolves around two competing mega-tech companies, ENCOM and its rival Dillinger Systems. The latter is now run by Evan Peters’ Julian Dillinger. He’s the grandson of Tron‘s original villain, Ed Dillinger. (I would definitely watch the first Tron before seeing this film.)
ENCOM, Kevin Flynn’s old company, is run by Greta Lee’s, Eve Kim in Tron: Ares. She was co-CEO with her sister, who passed away prior to the start of the movie. Each conglomerate is searching for Flynn’s lost “permanence code” because they’re in a race to reshape the world. Both sides have learned how to turn digital programs into reality. For ENCOM, that means growing trees to feed people. For Dillinger Systems, it means building weapons and a super soldier, the program known as Ares (Jared Leto). Both sides need the permanence code because their creations collapse after just 29 minutes.
Julian Dillinger is a strung-out, amoral, needy techbro determined to deliver on his promises to the military and shareholders. He’ll do anything to get what he wants. The part as written is remarkably cliché. But Peters is so good that he manages to make Julian into a compelling Tron: Ares villain anyway. Lee does the same with Kim. Her CEO is the exact same character you’ve seen a thousand times. Lee simply outplays the script.
The two best-written and most interesting characters in Tron: Ares are Ares and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith). They are the two advanced computer programs tasked with pulling off Julian’s plans. Leto’s Ares is the grid’s Master Control, who also retains his memories from his repeated 29-minute stays in the real world. Ares begins to grow as an independent thinker after realizing his creator does not care about him. (The film makes a very on-the-nose, explicit analogy about their situation. It’s not needed.) Ares’ growth is obvious development, but it works. Especially because his underling Athena does not suffer from any sort of similar self-doubt or bouts of conscience.
At first, Leto’s performance feels painfully predictable in Tron: Ares. It’s exactly what you think “Jared Leto is a computer program” will look and sound like. But once his Ares has to start interacting with real people, his performance becomes entertaining and strange. It’s exactly what I love about this franchise, which is at its best when two totally different kinds of beings interact.
As good as Leto is in the second half of the movie, Turner-Smith delivers my favorite performance of the film. Her Athena is a menacing, angry, driven program who can’t break free of her own code. She also can’t understand why anyone else would want to. It’s the film’s most nuanced role, and she crushes it.
As does Nine Inch Nails, which delivers an absolutely outstanding soundtrack for Tron: Ares. The pulsating score is loud, intense, and works perfectly with the film’s many action sequences. Those are also incredible. While I wish there were a better disc battle, the Light Cycle chases are absolutely amazing. That includes a lengthy one that takes place in reality. I was worried about how “Tron in the real world” would work when the grid is so great. But the Light Cycle sequence is much better than I hoped or even imagined it could be. It’s an absolute standout in a movie that was as visually stunning as I’d expected.
The inevitable Jeff Bridges cameo is also so much more than I hoped for. I can’t explain why without giving away a major spoiler. I’ll just say if you also love Tron, my bet is you’ll absolutely geek out long before he even appears on screen. His involvement exemplifies the feeling that Ares was made by people who truly adore Tron.
In true Tron fashion, Ares is fun, but far from perfect. There are some really clunky lines and interactions that the movie can’t pull off the way its predecessors did. That’s the danger of trying to be a more serious entry. There’s little room for cheesiness with when you sacrifice sci-fi whimsy for pure action. Suddenly, bad dialogue isn’t cute, it’s just bad.
The film’s comic relief, Arturo Castro’s Seth, ENCOM employee and trusted friend of Eve, isn’t given much to say that’s actually funny, either. Castro is always good, but the script fails him here. Tron: Ares also doesn’t give Gillian Anderson enough to do as Julian’s mother. It dramatically underutilizes her, in a part that also comes across as more stock than complex.
As for Tron: Ares‘ thoughts on AI, it’s a mixed bag. It stays true to one of Tron‘s founding ideas. It says technology is neither inherently good nor bad, but rather a tool that can be used for either. And it definitely shows why true AI would be so dangerous. It will be a monster that no one will be able to control if anyone ever makes genuine artificial intelligence rather than a plagiarism machine. But when your hero is a computer program who learns benevolence and altruism you’re still inherently pro-AI in some ways. That’s always been true of Tron, so it might seem unfair to hold it against Ares. But this movie does not exist in a vacuum. It’s coming out when AI is no longer a fun sci-fi concept but instead a plague.
None of that stopped me from enjoying Tron: Ares. Do I wish it were even weirder and off-kilter? For sure. That’s what I love most about the first two movies. By spending less time in the grid and making a more serious film, the franchise’s third installment also loses some of its wonderful silliness. But it doesn’t lose all of it. In some wonderful spots, it fully embraces it. Because this movie still contains true Tron DNA. Considering Tron: Ares has an amazing soundtrack, fantastic action sequences and visual effects, and a cast that elevates the script, it made this Tron fan happy to have the franchise power back up.
⭐ (4 of 5)
Tron: Ares comes to theaters on October 10, 2025.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He wants to talk to you about Tron. All the time. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
The post TRON: ARES Is a Less Weird Entry, But Will Still Please TRON Lovers (Review) appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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