Forty-three years after the original Tron zapped audiences into the digital ether, Tron: Ares arrives as Disney’s glossy attempt to reboot a franchise that refuses to log off. Directed by Joachim Rønning, the film is an ambitious, occasionally overclocked exploration of AI, morality, and legacy, all wrapped, of course, in retina-searing light and thundering synths. Rønning’s affection for the franchise is clear: he preserves its neon DNA while trying to inject fresh emotional circuitry. The result is a film that looks stunning and hums with energy, but sometimes feels like a glorified system update, necessary perhaps, but not revolutionary.

The story revolves around Ares (Jared Leto), a sentient military program who develops the inconvenient trait of empathy, and Eve Kim (Greta Lee), a visionary CEO determined to harness technology for good. Their digital-human dance unfolds against the backdrop of corporate greed, existential rumination, and the eternal question, what happens when code starts feeling things? Ares oscillates between philosophic musings and old-school sci-fi bravado, but it never fully decides whether to dazzle or to think. Still, as popcorn spectacle with a PhD in aesthetics, it does both just enough to keep the grid glowing.

Actors’ performance

Jared Leto reins in his usual method-madness and instead channels a serene, near-robotic calm that works surprisingly well. His Ares is less the god of war than an AI monk, learning to blush between battle routines. Greta Lee, luminous and grounded, brings real warmth to Eve, whose human compassion becomes the film’s moral compass. Together, they form an oddly tender binary: woman and program, dreamer and code.

Evan Peters, as corporate villain 

Julian Dillinger, leans into his tech-bro sociopathy with relish, equal parts Zuckerberg and Bond baddie. Jodie Turner-Smith’s Athena, all poise and peroxide, makes a memorable enforcer, while Gillian Anderson adds gravitas as a matriarch wary of the monsters her son has built. And yes, Jeff Bridges drops by, older, wiser, still a little “Dude,” to remind us that the digital frontier began with human folly and hubris.

Music 

If Tron: Legacy belonged to Daft Punk, Tron: Ares is owned by Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deliver a score that feels like an electronic sermon and a sonic assault, powering the film’s circuitry with thunderous basslines. Rønning keeps pace with kinetic visuals as light cycles streak across cityscapes and Recognizers glide through the night. The design blends corporate futurism with tactile realism, grounding the spectacle. Beneath the neon glow, the film acknowledges its irony: human emotion still flickers as the faintest signal in this digital storm.

FPJ verdict

Tron: Ares is no sci-fi masterpiece, but it’s a dazzling, self-aware reboot that balances spectacle with sporadic soul. It upgrades the franchise without deleting its quirks: a meditation on creation and control dressed in the rave gear of blockbuster entertainment. For Indian audiences weary of formulaic franchise fatigue, this one’s a reminder that even legacy systems can sparkle, provided they remember to feel.