TRON: Ares (2025)
Directed by: Joachim Rønning
Premise: The third TRON film. A tech company has developed a way of transferring programs and weapons from the digital world to the physical world but the results are unstable. A rival tech CEO has discovered the permanence code.
What Works: The TRON films are renowned for their visual effects and that is the standout feature of TRON: Ares. This movie is beautifully crafted. The use of color and morphing elements from abstract to concrete and back again is extraordinary. The visuals are paired with a music score by Nine Inch Nails that suits the harder and militaristic tone of Ares. There is a relentlessness to the music that complements the pace of this story. Enough time has passed since 2010’s TRON: Legacy for the computer network world to have a significant upgrade. The network world of Ares marries the cleanness and crispness of digital images and the organic qualities of the physical world. It’s a natural progression for the TRON series which was always about the relationship between the inner and outer worlds. That theme reaches its next step with Ares. The previous TRON films were primarily set in the digital world. Ares alternates between the two worlds and it literalizes the way that our physical lives are intertwined with digital realms. The other TRON movies tended to be very self-serious but Ares adds some welcome levity.
What Doesn’t: TRON: Ares will be best appreciated in a theater, preferably one with a giant screen and a good sound system. When this movie is seen at home it will be far less impactful and the sensory overload of the theatrical experience will no longer cover for its flaws. Ares tends to be emotionally flat. TRON: Legacy had a compelling personal story but Ares is a cliché artificial intelligence narrative in which a program becomes self-aware and wants freedom. Ironically, none of the characters in this film have much in the way of recognizable human emotions, least of all Ares, played by Jared Leto. We’re told he wants freedom but the character does not convey any sense of desire nor does he grow in an emotionally intelligent way. The other ideas of TRON: Ares are also under-considered especially the film’s regard for the power of tech companies. The hero and villain of Ares are both super wealthy tech CEOs; the film dubiously reassures the viewer that everything will be okay so long as the technology is controlled by a virtuous tech billionaire instead of a bad one.
Bottom Line: TRON: Ares is an impressive exercise in filmmaking craft and visual effects but it is dramatically and intellectually hollow. The earlier TRON films dramatized our anxieties about technology and questioned the power of tech companies. Ares is at best shallow and at worst functions as tech billionaire propaganda.
Episode: #1072 (November 2, 2025)