Review | “Tron: Ares” sounds nice, but says nothing
Graphic by Easton Clark, Photo Editor
What does it mean to be human? Can an artificial being feel? Not just physically, but deep down in its soul? Can that soul even exist? These are driving questions in the realm of science and speculative fiction, questions worth asking as we see the Pandora’s Box of artificial intelligence slowly open more and more day by day. These are questions that “Tron: Ares” could not give less of a shit about.
Focusing entirely on style over any sort of substance, “Ares” starts strong. Its introductory sequence flies through the digital frontier, giving us the rundown on the rivalry between the benevolent ENCOM International’s pursuit of AI and the more selfish efforts of Dillinger Systems. From there, we plug into the Grid, watching as the titular program made manifest — brought to the real world by sci-fi technology — Ares (Jared Leto) trains in combat while the blaring techno music pumps him up.
And man, that music pumped me up too. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are no strangers to scoring films, with Oscar and Golden Globe-winning scores on “Soul,” “The Social Network” and “Challengers” being among the highlights. But this isn’t your typical Reznor and Ross affair. Nay, this is Nine Inch Nails resurrected to bless the Dolby sound system with a signature ‘90s industrial rock that will ring in your eardrums like a chorus of headbanging angels. It’s a distinction that goes beyond name, bringing a distinct tone to the film’s score that pushes its techno-neon aesthetic to the absolute limit.
Until, that is, the second half of the film. As much as I’ve found myself bumping Nine Inch Nails’ work on the film on my commutes this past week, it’s almost exclusively tracks from the beginning of the film. One scene stands out in my mind where Ares and ENCOM CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) are racing through the waterfront of the digital Grid with Nine Inch Nails thrumming loudly to keep pace. It lands about halfway through the film, and marks the last moment where I felt the impact of the score. From then on out, Nine Inch Nails fades into the background.
What excited me so much about this being a Nine Inch Nails score rather than just Reznor and Ross is that it brings attention to itself and the aesthetic it creates. Where a typical film score might, well, underscore the film and provide an accompaniment meant to blend into the visuals, Nine Inch Nails is in your face, propelling every scene forward and keeping the tempo locked in place with steady force. This is a philosophy that gets tragically forgotten, as it feels like Reznor and Ross got bored watching the movie they were supposed to be making music for.
And honestly, I can’t really blame them. There’s a reason I’ve spent so much time waxing romantic about Nine Inch Nails and how they shape “Tron: Ares,” and it’s because the rest of the movie refuses to do anything interesting on its own.
The central conflict of this film is between two tech conglomerate CEOs racing to get the code that will unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI). Ares, the central character, is an AI grappling with what it means to be human. Somehow, in an era where discourse around the dangers and boons of AI is everywhere, this film refuses to engage with those ideas at all.
It’s almost impressive how the script manages to sidestep the cultural conversation at every step, framing its depiction of AI’s potential as the ability to conjure digital constructs in the real world. It’s a premise that makes no logical sense when you stop to think about it for more than a second (what are these digital constructs even made of?) and has no real connection to our current fears and insecurities about the applications of AI.
To the broader cultural conversation, “Tron: Ares” adds nothing. However, despite everything, I can’t say I hated it.
“Tron” as a franchise has never really made sense. The first one made waves for its groundbreaking 3D special effects, something the world had never seen before in 1982, and its depiction of the world inside our computers was revolutionary because, let’s be real, no one really knew how computers worked. “Tron: Legacy” in 2010 is complete and utter bunk, a movie where Jeff Bridges waxes poetic about “bio-digital jazz,” its only real impact being the advent of digital de-aging software and a fantastic(!) Daft Punk score. They are movies that are nice to look at and fun to listen to.
Most of “Tron: Ares” is just that. This is a glorified Nine Inch Nails music video the same way “Legacy” was one for Daft Punk. It’s a movie where you can completely ignore everything anyone is talking about and just focus on the motorcycle chases and slick neon lights. And man, what motorcycle chases and neon lights they are.
With the AI programs Ares and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) made manifest in the real world to fulfill Dillinger Systems’ nefarious schemes, the cat-and-mouse action becomes almost “Terminator”-esque. If you ask me, that’s never a bad thing.
Don’t go into “Tron: Ares” expecting anything cogent, timely, emotional or even very intelligent. If you like the sound of Nine Inch Nails playing over two hours of motorcycles and digital neon vaporwave, however, you could do a whole lot worse.
