TRON (1982)
Writer/Director: Steven Lisberger
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, David Warner
NOTE: Please read Ben's review first.
As you can see below, Ben, of Ben's Movie Reviews, has already taken care of the legit review. I'm not usually prone to writing legit reviews, but more so bringing the best (and worst) aspects of the movie to the surface. But going into TRON, I had a few questions, and afterward, I had even more. Here are some things from the movie AND the new trailer that I had a problem with...
1. At first I thought TRON was the computer world, but it turns out it's the program Alan wrote to help bring down the MCP. So what's the name of the computer world? Computer world? Wire Frame Land? I mean they clearly have a society and religion (belief in Users, for example) yet they have no name for their kingdom?2. Dillinger is a spineless jellyfish, and shouldn't be considered a villain. I mean he's brought down by a piece of paper stating that Flynn wrote the original code for the video games. And why the hell is he listening to the MCP? I mean the first time a computer tells me to do something physical, I bat that thing into nonexistence. The MCP is the real villain behind the film, self aware like Skynet or the War Games[1] machine (as Ben pointed out). Both those movie's themes kept coming up, so I have to say they are complete ripoffs of TRON.
3. What happened to Alan and the girl in the real world after Flynn entered Computer World? How much time passed? Is time slower or faster in Computer World? Can a User die in the Computer World? I mean he can bring people back to life, as seen on the flying ship scene. He can also bend the environment to his will, much like Neo in The Matrix (another rip-off!), like controlling vehicles and creating roads.
4. One last thing, if the original codes were done by Flynn and Dillinger stole them, shouldn't the MCP look and sound like Flynn and not Dillinger? We know that the Programs look like their Users (because a piece of their soul is still within the coding, another religious reference), so why does the MCP and Sark look like Dillinger? I assumed Dillinger can't do any programming on his own.
"This man makes some EXCELLENT points!!"
6. If the MCP was really smart, he would have sent his army of wire-frame ships and tanks to the real world. Obviously this can occur, because they transported the orange BACK from Computer World (if that's where it went at all!) at the beginning of the film. He also should have made himself mobile, but whatever.
I'm really pissed they didn't make a sequel to this in the early 90s because computers hit another huge era. If we can safely assume that Computer World reflects the level of technology in the Real World, we could have had another sweet computer movie. However, I don't think TRON2.0 will be as relevant or groundbreaking as it once was. If the Computer World theory proves true, it should look JUST like the real world using CGI tech. Also, it should be more varied, such as different geographies, mythical creatures and monsters and such. Perhaps the Computer UNIVERSE has millions of planets with different Programs living independently of each other...
Basically what I'm getting at here is go watch this movie. It is awesome, but the best part of the movie is that it will make you think. Just like Flynn you are discovering this strange world for the first time, so these are the same questions that Flynn asks himself. Also, "When is Tron and that girl gonna break up, so I can hop on that." He asks himself that question too.
[1] War Games is also an excellent 80s computer-themed movie. But it talks more of the reality of computers taking over, and how they will destroy our world.
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