Fans of either or both of the first two films, strap in. You’re going on a wild ride of nostalgia, and not in a good way. Even with the inclusion of Jeff Bridges as Flynn, Tron: Ares feels like cheap fan service rather than something earned or meaningful. There’s no emotional connection—just a hollow echo of what once was. This is Disney once again pushing content based on a beloved IP without understanding what made it special in the first place and entrusting it to amateurs.
There is absolutely zero character development for characters that are not in the first two films. The story unfolds as a flat sequence of events. This happens, then that happens, and then something else happens. It is all done without any real growth or transformation. Our protagonist, Eve, is merely tortured from start to finish until she emerges victorious, thanks to modern storytelling. That’s not a character arc; that’s just endurance. And instead of making us care, Disney depends on us liking the actors from other projects: Greta Lee from Past Lives, Jodie Turner-Smith from The Acolyte, Evan Peters from X-Men. It is as if our affection for their previous roles is enough to root for their character. It doesn’t. It simply highlights the emptiness of the writing.
Jared Leto as Ares in Disney’s TRON: ARES. Photo by Leah Gallo. © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“There’s no emotional connection—just a hollow echo of what once was.”
Greta Lee is perfectly suited for drama, but not to lead a sci-fi action flick. The inclusion of her diversity team, including Arturo Castro and Hasan Minhaj, is only there to act as comic relief and tap away on a keyboard to save the day. It’s not that the actors are bad. It’s that they Tron: Ares gives everyone a bad story and worse dialogue.
Finally, there’s the total lack of world-building. The movie is all about people and programs from the Grid coming to Earth, and while it all looks “cool,” it’s completely soulless and hollow. The original Tron brought us into the world of computers. Every character and vehicle was an allegory for every microcrip, processor, and line of code. Ares throws all that away. It’s content with being a flashy, noisy, and meaningless spectacle of action and gaming, like its predecessors. Its biggest crime is that it has nothing to say about the world today or our relationship with technology, as the first two did so well, at least the first. It fears taking a stand on anything.
In a time when science fiction could be exploring the human cost of our digital lives, Tron: Ares chooses the path of least resistance—and ends up saying absolutely nothing. Ultimately, the film falls short of capturing the spirit and soul that made the original films iconic. Sadly, it’s right in line with Disney’s current trend of hollow IP exploitations.
"…flashy, noisy, and meaningless spectacle of action and gaming..."
