Tron: Ares, a film with Jared Leto about AI, is only worth it for the soundtrack

Jared Leto is one of the most controversial figures in Hollywood, a love it or hate it star. Just see who was he was nominated for best and worst awards supporting role in the same film, House Gucci (2021): competed in the SAG Awards, from the American Screen Actors Guild, and won the Golden Raspberry, in which he also competed in the worst on-screen combo category — in partnership with “his 15-pound latex face, his weird clothes or his ridiculous accent”.

Leto’s CV, 53 years old, includes the now classic Requiem for a Dream (2000), an Oscar win for supporting actorby Dallas Shopping Club (2013), and the cult Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Oscar-winning in the photography direction and visual effects categories. But his performance in this science fiction divided opinions, and the list also has bombs like Morbius (2022), which won another Golden Raspberry, this time for worst actorand even more embarrassing roles, like his version of the Joker in Suicide Squad (2016).

They weigh against the actor accusations of sexual misconduct with women and even teenagers and his reputation for eccentric or even toxic behavior on film sets. Still, Jared Leto is cast to star in Disney superproductionslike Tron: Ares (2015), which has an estimated budget of US$180 million and opened in Brazilian cinemas this Thursday (9).

Directed by Norwegian Joachim Rønningthe same as Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (2017) e Maleficent 2 (2019), Tron: Ares and the third film in a leap franchise.

It all started with the visionary Tron: An Electronic Odyssey (1982), by Steve Lisberger, in which the young and talented computer engineer Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) discovers that Ed Dillinger, an executive at his company, ENCOM, is stealing his project for a new video game. Flynn ends up being transported into the digital world.

It took 28 years for a sequel to emerge, Tron: Or Legacy (2010), by Joseph Kosinski, in which Flynn’s son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), haunted by his father’s mysterious disappearance, is also pulled into a cybernetic universe. The sequel to this film had been in the plans since its release, but it was postponed and changed hands until it becomes Tron: Ares.

If you haven’t seen the first two films, don’t worry: a fast-paced but sufficiently explanatory prologue locates the story so far and the main characters of the new action and science fiction plot.

On the one hand, we have Eve Kimcurrent CEO of ENCOM, a company associated with positive words such as light and promise. She is played by an actress visibly uncomfortable in the genre — Greta Leeof Past Lives (2023). Already Evan Petersawarded a supporting Emmy for Mare of Easttown (2021) and nominated for best actor for Dahmer: An American Cannibal (2022), has fun playing the antagonist, Julian Dillingergrandson of the original Tron villain and CEO of Dillinger Systems, which uses technology in the military.

Tron: Ares changes the franchise flow: Instead of diving into the digital environment, the film brings cybernetic beings from there, giving them a body and voice. Through the artificial intelligence (IA), Julian created Ares (Jared Leto’s character), built to be a super soldier — its name, it’s worth remembering, comes from the god of war in Greek mythology —, obedient, “predictable and expendable”.

The problem is that creatures like Ares and Athena (paper of Jodie Turner-Smithof Queen & Slim) have a very short shelf life in the real world: they only last 29 minutes. If he doesn’t want to see his business with the US government ruined, Julian needs to steal the so-called Permanence Codewhich gives perpetuity to what was born via AI.

Like science fiction, Tron: Ares and quite superficial and schematic in the discussion about the hot and complex topic of artificial intelligence. As an action film, it exerts some charm for about 15 minutesbecause of the red neon trails that color the dark streets of the city while AI-generated motorcycles move quickly. But we soon get used to the effect and the look, and nothing very spectacular appears to engage the public.

What saves the viewer from falling asleep and gives the film an epic feel is the soundtrack. Don’t worry, it’s not from the band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which features Jared Ledo as vocalist and guitarist.

Those who composed the pulsating music were Trent Reznor e Atticus Rosswho won the Oscar for A Rede Social (2010) and by Soul (2020, with Jon Batiste) and the Emmy for the miniseries Watchmen (2019). Em Tron: Aresthey sign under the name of the industrial rock group the former formed in 1998, the Nine Inch Nailsand make elements of Wendy Carlos’ works for the Tron 1982 and Daft Punk for Tron: Or Legacy. If the film doesn’t make you want to get up from your seat, the soundtrack does — but to dance.

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