Movie Series Review: Tron

This series of films have shown some of the best (and in some way, worst) CGI in recent years. It has been one of Disney's most darkest and spectacular films that delivers in all levels. Does it live up to my expectations? Let's find out:

Tron

Released in 1982 and set during a period where arcade games were big, Kevin Flynn was a former software engineer at a company called ENCOM, until his boss Ed Dillinger fired him. His boss stole various video games made by Kevin which then has Kevin infiltrate ENCOM with the help of his former colleagues, creator of the Tron program Alan Bradley and his girlfriend/colleague Lora Baines. He attempts to steal data from ENCOM's servers but a program made by Dillinger known as the Master Control Program prevents him from doing so and uses a laser to send Kevin into what's known as the Grid. There he meets Tron and together, the 2 of them venture into the Grid to stop the MCP from wrecking havoc across the ENCOM servers. Overall, while I felt that the CGI was very standard for a film that was released in the 80s, the film was overall a good experience. It shows great CGI (for its time) and the story was OK. Not the greatest storyline but still OK. 8/10

Tron Legacy

Released in 2010 and set briefly in 1989 and then 20 years after that, Sam Flynn (the son of Kevin Flynn), the primary shareholder of ENCOM who has little interest in the company and must deal with the disappearance of his father in 1989, pulls of an annual trick on the board of directors, but is then arrested for doing so and returns home. Alan Bradley (now an ENCOM executive) asks him to investigate a message sent by Sam's father and Sam reluctantly does so, which leads him to his father's old arcade (which since the last film, has been out of business for a while), he enters his father's secret lair and a laser behind him, sends him onto the grid. He then discovers that a corrupted program known as CLU has taken over the Grid and plans for a mass attack on the real world. Allied with only his father and his "apprentice", Quorra, Sam must now race against time to stop CLU from entering and potentially destroying the real world. Overall, while the CGI and special effects looked spectacular, I felt that there wasn't much done with the character development and the story. What I'm interested to know, is what happened during that long 20 year period. Maybe a prequel will tell us, but I highly doubt it. 8/10

Overall, the CGI and the special effects are definitely the strongest points of these films. The story and character development definitely need to be worked on, but so far, its a very good set of films, if you're into the technological world like me. 8/10