What Really Went Wrong With TRON: Ares, Explained

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TRON: Ares, the newest entry into the Tron franchise starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Evan Peters, has flopped in a big way and looks like it’s going to be an over $100 million loss for...

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00:00Tron Ares, the newest entry into the Tron franchise, was met with skepticism from the

00:05time it was announced. And now that it's been released, it doesn't seem to have been able to

00:09overcome its hurdles and find success. It's a fun action flick, but didn't seem to quite connect

00:16with reviewers or many audience members. It's looking like it's going to be over a hundred

00:21million dollar loss for Disney. But it doesn't actually seem to be the case of the film being

00:26just so dreadful that no one likes it. So what actually went wrong here? Let's break down the

00:32real reasons why Tron Ares just didn't quite work, and why that doesn't necessarily mean it's a total

00:38failure forever. If you've seen the film, let us know what you thought about it in the comments.

00:43Tron Ares is the second sequel to the 1982 Tron, which arrived right as the popular interest in

00:49video games was beginning to explode. It wasn't a perfect film by any stretch, but its creativity,

00:54and the interesting modern questions that it posed, captured people's imaginations.

01:00Oh man, this isn't happening, it only thinks it's happening.

01:03CGI was new at the time, and Tron's use of it to create the digital world of the grid

01:07dazzled viewers, even those who didn't really care for anything else about the film.

01:12Following programmer Kevin Flynn's journey, the film explored the idea of what it means to create

01:17something that is capable of growing beyond your intentions, and what it really means to be alive.

01:24On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.

01:27Kevin is zapped into a digital world where programs have been realized in the image of

01:31their creators, including taking on parts of their personalities to a dangerous degree.

01:37The film wasn't a mega hit, but it quickly found a cult following.

01:41I had never seen anything like it before. You know, we talk oftentimes about the fact that

01:47movies can take us to places we've never been before. Tron took me to places nobody had ever been before.

01:52Then, in 2010 came the first sequel, Tron Legacy, which follows Kevin's son, Sam, as he works to

01:58unravel the mystery of his father's disappearance. While working on his computer system, his program

02:04clue went rogue and took over, trapping him in the digital world.

02:08Look what you've accomplished. It's incredible. Sam, I'd have given it all up for one more day with you.

02:18Kevin has to come to terms with the reality of what he's created, and what it will take to stop it.

02:24Must have been something before Clue screwed it up.

02:27No, no, he...

02:29He's me. I screwed it up.

02:33Sam, along with the isomorphic algorithm Quora, a new lifeform that sprung up inside the computer

02:39system, works to save the world from Clue's desire to perfect it.

02:44What's next, Sam?

02:48I guess we're supposed to change the world.

02:51The film did okay upon release, but actually developed an audience of fans over time as more

02:57people came to appreciate it. Tron Ares, the third installment, had the opportunity to continue

03:02this story in an interesting way, especially given how our reality has only become more

03:08interconnected with the digital world over time. While it does have its bright spots, the film never

03:13quite manages to connect, however. Tron Ares sets us in the same world, but without most of the

03:20characters we came to know in the first two films. Though there are connections, tech bro Julian is

03:25Ed Dillinger's grandson, Kevin makes a brief appearance, etc. Instead, here, we're brought into

03:31the world of the tech leaders. Julian, who has created his military AI program named after the

03:37God of War, and Eve, the current CEO of Kevin's company, who wishes to thwart Julian's plans.

03:50Ares is the new master control program created to protect the grid and destroy anything that

03:55doesn't align with his master Julian's wishes. Much to Julian's dismay, however, Ares' super

04:01intelligence leads him to developing other human qualities, namely empathy. He begins to turn

04:07against Julian as he wrestles with these new emotions in his growing realization of his own

04:12impermanence. He's biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. He is fully

04:18proprietary and 100% expendable. On its face, it sounds like a pretty serviceable follow-up for the

04:25series. So, what's the problem? Rather than suffering from one major obvious issue,

04:38Tron Ares instead seems to falter due to its many small cracks that, together, form a larger problem.

04:45It has a similar issue to the original Tron film of looking great, but not always hitting a home run

04:50with the actual meat of the story it's trying to convey. But Ares suffers even more from this,

04:55because while the digital world was so dazzling as to be able to overcome the faults of the scripting

05:00back in 1982, the same isn't really true now. Our world has essentially been consumed by the

05:07digital, and there's nothing particularly new in the CGI here, so the story becomes more of a focus,

05:13to the film's detriment. It attempts to counteract this by bringing much of the story into the real

05:18world and engaging with the flip side of that original question, now really unpacking what it

05:23means for the programs to come into our reality. But the film, for the most part, never seems willing

05:29to really dig in deep and explore any of the topics it brings up. Everything feels very surface level.

05:36There's also the issue of the choice of who we're on the journey with. Original Tron was grounded in

05:42relatability because, at its heart, was the story of a regular guy who had his passion taken over and

05:48used by a greedy corporate shill who wanted to use it for his own ends. Legacy allows us to relate

05:53with Sam through his connection to his dad. In Ares, however, both the villain and the good guys are

05:59uber-rich techies. While Eve does seem to have her heart in the right place, none of these people are

06:05particularly relatable to most of the audience. In fact, techies trying to frame themselves as the

06:10good ones just because they're trying to take power but in a good way is a major problem in our

06:15current moment. Of course, we don't have to share exact life stories with characters to relate to

06:20them. But the film never really brings us into their world to really feel like we connect with them

06:26in a genuine way. The film often feels disconnected from its own emotions, which makes it hard to connect

06:32to as a viewer. What it does attempt to convey tends to feel more paint-by-numbers than genuine.

06:38There is a lot that could be said about the line between programs truly becoming sentient and

06:42accessing their emotions, as well as how the programmers that built them contend with that.

06:47But Ares never quite does this in a compelling way. Though that doesn't mean it's all bad,

06:53it certainly has moments that do work, but they only serve to make us wish that more of the film did.

06:59Ron Ares' box office flop isn't just a result of the story itself. In fact, the biggest culprits

07:05all come from far outside of the script. Ron Ares suffers from many of the same problems that

07:11plague so many modern big-budget films. There's the apparent belief that the studio can just put

07:16some big names in a known property and print money, even though that idea has been disproven

07:22countless times. The choice of big name here was also an odd choice, as Jared Leto has long been

07:29connected to films that do poorly, and even the ones that do well seem to be in spite of him more

07:35than anything. He's not even necessarily bad in the role, but he himself is so off-putting that it

07:42makes many people not want to give the film a chance in the first place. And the focus on known

07:47properties has led to sequel fatigue, where it sometimes feels like a film can't get picked

07:53up with a decent budget if it isn't somehow already connected to some other film or IP.

07:59Ron Ares itself even brings up this idea in a way, when there's the discussion of bringing back

08:04dead celebrities for profit. They decide it's better to use the technology to aid humanity instead,

08:11which is interesting in this film that solely exists to try to squeeze the last drops of money out

08:16of a long-dead franchise that's been brought back to life.

08:19You just keep doing what it looks like you're supposed to be doing, no matter how crazy it seems.

08:24That's the way it is for programs, yes.

08:26I hate to disappoint you, pal, but most of the time that's the way it is for users, too.

08:30Sci-fi is all about being forward-thinking and creative, taking a leap into the unknown to

08:35question what our futures could hold. Even with its faults, the original Tron felt cutting-edge in this

08:40regard. Ares, on the other hand, plays it safe, posing questions everyone's already asked,

08:46and not providing any new or interesting answers or insight. But just because it's imperfect doesn't

08:52mean it won't ever find its place in audiences' hearts. Tron Ares' biggest issue is mainly that

08:58it settled for being just okay in an environment where it could have been great if it was willing

09:03to take some risks. It's not a terrible film overall. It has a great soundtrack, some good

09:09action sequences, and some interesting performances. At the end of the day, it just doesn't ever

09:14actually engage with any of the topics it brings up as much as you'd hope it would.

09:19It's possible that, like its predecessors, it will find its audience in time. Some people already

09:25love it, so that looks likely. Box office numbers alone aren't everything. The film ends with what's

09:31clearly a setup for another sequel. But given the fact that this film mostly ignored the film-ending

09:37sequel setup from Tron Legacy, who knows if we'll ever see these questions get answered either.

09:42Let us know, would you like to see another installment in the Tron franchise? If so,

09:47what changes would you like to see? And if not, what's a different sci-fi property that you'd like

09:52to see get the big screen treatment instead?

09:55That's the take. Click here to watch the video we think you'll love. Or here to check out a whole

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