REVIEW COLLECTION: “TRON” Series, Part 1

(Courtesy IMDb) 

TRON (1982) 

Visual effects have reached many milestones throughout the history of cinema, dazzling moviegoers for more than a century. One of the most significant steps came in 1982, during a time when computers weren’t a general household item, while many animators feared they would lose their jobs because of it, and only a few artists and technicians saw the potential for how they could be used in filmmaking and in service to the stories they would tell. Writer, director, and animator Steven Lisberger developed and eventually presented the idea of a hacker, video game developer and arcade owner gets zapped into a computer and must escape to stop the head of a technological corporation. That became the premise of the 1982 live-action feature, TRON, a film that is dated by today’s standards but was incredibly groundbreaking at the time—while also being ahead of its time. 

After he and two former employees break into their company to shut down the program that has taken over the corporation, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, in one of his earliest and most well-known roles) is forced to compete in gladiatorial matches of his own video games. Bruce Boxlietner co-stars as Alan Bradley, as well as his “security program” known as the heroic Tron (hence, the film's title). Cindy Morgan plays Lora and her “program” Yuri (completing something of a love triangle), while veteran stage and screen actor David Warner plays both the greedy company CEO Ed Dillinger and his “program” Sark. 

As one of the first feature-length films that made extensive use of computer graphics, TRON was a milestone in visual effects. It's like going into a virtual Oz, if you will, with Flynn representing something of an outsider looking in. (Likewise, characters in the computer world of this story reflect characters in the real world, as The Wizard of Oz did before it. Bridges also plays Flynn's "program" Clu.) It may also be considered by some as a more digital Star Wars. But TRON is distinctly its own thing, with original worldbuilding and mythology, echoing elements of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, other spiritual/religious imagery, and themes of self-sacrifice and restoration. The results are nothing short of dazzling. "On the other side of the screen," Flynn tells us, "It all looks so easy." 

While there are reportedly only 20 minutes or so of actual computer animation (consisting of the aforementioned digital world, as well as tanks, ships, and other vehicles), the radical combination of backlighting, rotoscoping, and flashing neon lights (not recommended for more photosensitive viewers) makes it look otherwise. (So, red means corrupt, while blue means heroic?) But if there's one scene this movie is most remembered for, it’s the light cycle sequence. Supervised by futurist artist Syd Mead, this score-less moment is filled with speed, energy, color, sound, and suspense. Ironically, the Academy Awards disqualified TRON from being nominated in the visual effects category, as they then believed that filmmakers who used computer animation were “cheating.” Nevertheless, the film looks great in its restored picture quality and crisp resolution. The score was composed by Wendy Carlos (who had worked with Stanley Kubrick prior to this), while American rock band Journey contributed two original songs to the film’s soundtrack. 

Like other genre tentpoles released in 1982 (including Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH), this game-changing sci-fi adventure was not a box-office success during its initial release. To be sure, TRON has a convoluted plot, despite some thought-provoking questions about computers "thinking," as well as subtle reflections of real-life figures who helped build successful computer companies. Not to mention some technological jargon that may fly over the heads of the uninitiated (i.e., "Master Control Program," "users"). Ditto some suggestive elements/references, and intense moments where characters “de-resolute” (in other words, disintegrate). But this 1982 flick is more about its worldbuilding, themes, and its radical cinematic experience. In subsequent years, it developed a cult following and is now rightfully regarded as a classic. It’s also one of the reasons that Pixar Animation Studios exists to this day. Furthermore, it represented the next generation of passionate artists who carried on what Walt Disney and his team did before them: daring risks that would breakthrough new technologies and stories that would engage and excite the general public. In other words, TRON was far from "end of line." 

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