A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program. Kevin Flynn is a former employee of the software corporation ENCOM, now running an arcade. Flynn has been trying to hack into ENCOM's mainframe computer to find evidence that ENCOM's senior executive Ed Dillinger stole five video games he created. But Dillinger's supercomputer Master Control Program foils Flynn's efforts and dictates and controls most of the computer systems. One night, Flynn's former girlfriend Lora Baines and her boyfriend, ace computer programmer Alan Bradley helps Flynn break into ENCOM to shut down the MCP with Alan's security program Tron. But MCP uses Lora's matter transmission program and converts Flynn into data and sends him into the computer. Flynn finds himself in a electronic world ruled by the MCP and his evil chief henchman Sark, where computer programs are the alter-egos of their creators and are forced to compete in gladiatorial games. With help from Tron, a heroic and fearless security program and his lover, Yori, Flynn sets out destroy the MCP and help Tron liberate the system from the MCP's control, by destroying the MCP is Flynn's only way of returning to the real world. A curious film this one, in the light of events that followed it (the collapse of the home video game industry in the late 80s and the 2000 dotcom meltdown). Filmed as a cash-in on the then video game craze, the film has dated badly in many ways, particularly the early chunky grey Silicon Graphics special effects, not even as good as in The Last Starfighter, which has a similar look. A blindingly unoriginal good vs evil subplot involves a charismatic hacker lined up against the evil executive that stole his programs (played in a slow walk by British veteran David Warner - true to stereotype the Englishman's the bad guy). In spite of itself the film raises some interesting questions. When our hero gets drawn into the computer he meets replicas of people he meets in the real world, predating the concept of virtual worlds and avatars by a few years. In places, the film echoes earlier classics like Metropolis, particularly in the way the characters' faces are coloured and lit. For the most part, a curiosity only now. August 6, 2017 Tron provides simple, beautiful electronic landscapes<br/><br/>Some films go beyond its audience. Their clear visions come at a price. Steven Lisberger's Tron is one such film, it premiered in 1982 and grew no audience. "It's too confusing", that was the comment i kept hearing from friends who saw it with me many years ago. The rest of the world seemed to agree. But that consensus has changed. Two decades later it's considered a classic. What happened? Is it a severe case of audience jet lag ?. Maybe yes; we had to catch up on computer technology. I enjoyed the film, now and then. From costume design to screenplay Tron stands tall.<br/><br/>Dressed for success<br/><br/>Tron's costumes are a landmark in design. Observe them carefully, they have complex, colorful, intense circuitry. Although they are one of the iconic images of the film, these costumes were not drawn by a computer, real artists painted them. Their names are listed in the end credits in Taiwanese. The filmmakers used traditional 'photographic animation'. The director filmed the actors wearing spandex costumes against a black background, then each frame was retouched in multiple layers. Instead of animating a 'drawing', the filmmakers animated a photograph. All frames were painted in Taiwan and sent back to America. This is a computer movie built, in part, without the help of computers. The result is a unique, retro-futuristic look. But if a filmmaker wanted to reprise the look of Tron today, he would need to replicate this painful, expensive technique used more than 20 years ago. Such attempt is not an appetizer to any movie studio nor investor, it just does not happen anymore. Tron is electronic art.<br/><br/>continue review here:<br/><br/>http://fun.sytes.net/movie-quest/tron-movie-review-1982/<br/><br/>http://fun.sytes.net/movie-quest/tron-movie-insight-1982/ The best visual design in the world doesn't mean a thing unless there's someone around with a rudimentary sense of story. Jeff Bridges, playing the human hero sucked into the machine, has to carry the film's entire burden of charm and appeal; he seems to have freaked out under the strain, turning in some surpassingly weird, alienating work.
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