AI programs break out of the digital world and into our reality—and are enchanted by what they find—in Tron: Ares, opening in Prague and cinemas worldwide this weekend. Like Tron: Legacy, which mixed dazzling visuals with one of cinema’s all-time great soundtracks by Daft Punk, Ares gets a huge boost from an electrifying score by Nine Inch Nails that washes over so much of the film that it often feels like an extended music video—but there’s a timely, touching story in here, too.
Directed by Joachim Rønning (Kon-Tiki, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Tron: Ares is one of the rare sci-fi films (like Gareth Edwards‘ The Creator) that approaches futuristic technology not with fear and trepidation but with wonder and even hope. Its central storyline about a rogue AI program that breaks the rules in order to assist mankind—born out of a yearning to experience humanity itself—is a refreshing change from the usual sci-fi tropes.
The technology isn’t so far away. Like 1982’s Tron, which explored the fledging world of video games, and 2010’s Tron: Legacy, which explored a vast internet-like digital landscape, Tron: Ares turns its focus to an especially timely subject: artificial intelligence. AI programs played by humans in a digital realm featured in each of the previous films, but the blurring relationship between AI and humans in the real world takes center stage here.
Tron: Ares opens with a demonstration of the new technology by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who uses advanced 3D laser printers to materialize not only a hulking tank, but also a superhuman embodiment of the AI security program that controls it: Ares (Jared Leto). Dillinger’s investors are impressed, but mother and former CEO (Gillian Anderson) cautions him for not revealing the limitation of this technology: namely, that after exactly 29 minutes, these physical artifacts will crumble into digital dust.
At the same time, competing tech mogul Eve Kim (Past Lives‘ Greta Lee) is on an expedition to find the secret that would allow this technology to achieve permanence: that is, to exist in the physical world past the 29 minute cutoff. Following in the footsteps of her deceased sister, she and colleague Seth (Arturo Castro) track clues to the wintry mountain cabin of Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges in the earlier films, who also briefly features here)—and obtains the needed code without much hassle.
Dillinger, however, is monitoring her every move, and before she can even travel back to corporate headquarters, he has materialized Ares, Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), and other security programs to chase her down. This leads to a thrilling Light Cycle chase through the grid of a major unnamed American city (filming took place in Vancouver) that mimics the original video game on a much different scale.
But the interaction of humans and AI programs like large language models don’t only alter the humans: the AI itself is also updated. And through Ares’ brief interaction with mankind in the physical world, the seed of doubt is planted in regards to its primary directive.
A restrained Leto is at his very best as Ares, the AI security program whose sentience does not set him on a path of destruction, but rather curiosity; humorously, his growing shades of humanity recall his scenes in American Psycho, where Patrick Bateman breaks down Huey Lewis and The News for Paul Allen; here, in multiple scenes, Ares espouses his admiration for Depeche Mode.
Leto is matched by Turner-Smith in the more traditional AI role—but even her relentless Athena is not without a certain complexity, and is not treated as purely evil but rather misguided. These AI characters make an interesting comparison to the humans in Tron: Ares, who are largely painted in single strokes and are therefore far less compelling.
Like the earlier Tron films, Ares focuses on style over substance, and that’s where the film excels; unlike the earlier films, most of this one takes place in the real world, gorgeously captured by Jeff Cronenweth (Gone Girl, The Social Network) on location in Vancouver. The digital landscapes are largely limited to the striking red-drenched interiors of Dillinger’s mainframe, and a terrific nod to the original Tron complete with early 1980s computer graphics.
But the real selling point here is the phenomenal soundtrack, which director Rønning smartly allows to overtake the narrative: the evocative beats here blend industrial and electronic influences with the kind of retro synth beats of John Carpenter’s work on Halloween III: Season of the Witch, resulting in something wholly unique and entirely mesmerizing. It’s too early to tell if Nine Inch Nails’ work here will have the kind of staying power of Daft Punk’s in Legacy—but that main theme, and the end credit version with vocals (Shadow Over Me), is an absolute banger. So vital is the score to the film that the band’s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are also credited as executive producers.
More of an experience than most films at the multiplex, Tron: Ares demands to be seen in the biggest and loudest cinema possible; in IMAX, Cronenweth’s widescreen compositions open up to 16:9 during key scenes, and NIN’s deep bass drops reverberate through the entire hall. The story only takes it so far, but with its striking visuals and pulse-pounding score, Tron: Ares truly illuminates the space where technology and humanity intersect.
