TRON (1982)

A young Jeff Bridges, some of the first CG used in cinema, and the inner world of a computer combine to form the 1982 film Tron. I'm not sure how many great science fiction films Disney has been apart of, none come to mind, but Tron is certainly one of them. Although overall I don't think Tron is an Oscar winning piece of pure gold, or something that should be drooled over by the populous, but I do think it is a fun, innovative ride that takes you to places you haven't been: inside a computer.

Story
The film begins with a gifted software engineer, Flynn (Bridges), who is running a local arcade. He gets a visit from his friends Alan & Laura who tell him that his former employer, and their current boss, is shutting down certain parts of the company. The three decide to go back to the company and try and get Flynn into the mainframe. Flynn suggests that their their boss, Dillinger, stole his ideas for some of the most popular arcade games that are now making millions. He wants to try and prove that Dillinger, who is now promoted to President of the company, stole his ideas, thus getting credit for these popular games. The three of them make it inside and Flynn tries to hack into the company's super computer, the MCP (Master Control Program), to try and find the files he needs to prove Dillinger stole his ideas. As Flynn attempts to break in to the system, MCP controls an experimental laser and digitizes Flynn, which brings him into the computers mainframe.

Flynn finds himself standing in a digital world inside the computer. He is taken to a holding pit where he meets two programs, RAM & Tron. The three of them break out of the holding cell and escape. Their goal is to bring down the MCP and make the system free again for any programs and users to use. After escaping tanks, light cycles, and guards, they are finally able to reach the heart of the MCP. After battling a giant Dillinger, they defeat the MCP and make the system free again. Afterwards Flynn escapes the digital world and gets his proof that Dillinger did in face steal his ideas. The film ends with Flynn becoming the President of the company.

The greatest attribute the story has is that for the first time in cinema history, we are taken into the inner workings of a computer. It is the first imagining of what it would be like to be inside that world and what goes on in there. This is easily the best part of Tron. The other interesting part of Tron is the idea of a free system and battling the establishment, and other parts are not so interesting. I can't say from a filmmaking/sci-fi perspective that I enjoy the programs being tiny people in my computer racing each other and battling one another. It has it's pros and cons, but he pros outweigh the latter.

Direction
The film was written & directed by the relatively unknown Steven Lisberger. He was inspired after he saw the video game Pong in the 70's. He had the idea of what would happen to someone if they got trapped inside a computer and what it would be like to be in that realm. He brought the movie to nearly every studio in Hollywood and was turned down by everyone, until he brought the idea to Disney. Disney at the time was interested in more daring and interesting projects and gave the film a budget of $10 million.

Although I am not blown away by Lisberger's direction on acting or story necessarily, what I am impressed with is what he wanted to do with the film. He wanted to bring you into a world that you have never seen and wanted to use different techniques to differentiate it from reality. For example they filmed all the computer world scenes in black & white, and colorized them later using a photo technic called "back-lit animation." Also the computer animation in the film, which is only 15 minutes total, is a milestone in the computer animation industry. It was the first film to use computer animation extensively. In the end Lisberger garners my respect for having vision, and taking the film in directions never before seen in film.

Acting
After I watched the film, the one thing that never made me once think, "Oh that was great" or "Wow, how well crafted," was the acting. It's not that it's anywhere near bad, it's just nothing spectacular or different. Jeff Bridges is entertaining, and the others are the same, but nothing pops out at me. But then I realized that I had just finished watching a Disney film and there you go. I also don't believe Lisberger's focus was on acting, or acting that is beyond and above the norm. Although not bad, not great acting in the end.


Is Tron a classic? Yes. It is a milestone for two big reasons in science fiction and in film. It is the first film to use CGI extensively, and also the first film to take you inside a computer. Although you may not have Oscar winning performances, or spectacular dialogue, you have a entertaining ride throughout that takes you to places you've never seen before. To me, for those reasons, it is still a classic today.