Did they make the Tron sequel on purpose?

[Orrex]

I ask because I can't believe that anyone could have deliberately produced that nonstop crapfest. It must have been an accident of some kind.


A horrible, horrible accident.






Right?

[Frank Cannon]

1. I didn't think it was so bad.

Not on par with the original, which was mind-melting when it first came out. But it's not totally awful, either. The music is awesome. And Olivia Wilde's in it.

[Orrex]

2. Two big problems with the sequel. Well, four.

1. The best (coolest) part of the original was the game arena, but in the sequel the games served only as an impediment to getting the protagonist to the plot (whatever that was).

2. The Matrix-esque club scene and fights seem hopelessly derivative

3. Likewise, the techno-zen mystical nonsense seems even more tired than it did when Morpheus spouted it to Neo

4. The young Flynn looked nothing at all like young Jeff Bridges and certainly didn't look real or natural


I found it a big snoozefest, Ms. Wilde notwithstanding, and although the music was cool enough, it wasn't enough to overcome the overall blah of the film.

[Frank Cannon]

3. You raise good points.

1. Yeah, the game arena was not what it was in the first movie. But what I found more egregious was that in the first movie, they really made the world of the grid look bizarre and fantastic with the glowing suits and everything. It didn't seemed like they even bothered with that this time.

2. Sadly, half of the action films that are made today rip off something from the Matrix.

3. Yeah, the mystical stuff bugged me, too. Particularly since, in the first movie, they followed their own internal logic pretty well in advancing the simple plot. All of the people interacted with in the grid were representations of actual computer programs, with the idea being to use the TRON program to shut down the out-of-control Master Control Program. In this sequel, they called the people "programs", but I don't think they really represented anything. What kind of computer program does a flamboyant nightclub owner represent?

4. Yeah, I thought that the young Jeff Bridges could have been done a lot better. I probably could have forgiven it if they didn't also didn't put him in the "real world". Gollum and the blue people in Avatar moved and looked a lot more natural, so I'm not sure what their problem was for this movie.

Yet, despite these shortcomings, I still managed to enjoy it. I thought it was still visually amazing, and I enjoyed the action despite the pointlessness of most of it. And then, of course, there is Olivia Wilde.

[Orrex]

4. I agree with you re: Ms. Wilde

One thing has long bothered me about the original: why was there no Flynn Program already at work in the grid before Flynn got zapped into it? If Bruce Boxleitner had gotten zapped instead (or that woman from Caddyshack) would these Users have met their own Program equivalents?

[Frank Cannon]

5. Maybe because the David Warner character had usurped all of Flynn's programs.

And there WAS a representation of him in the grid. The computer didn't credit Flynn for his inventions until after the MCP was destroyed and Flynn was returned to our world.

I'll have to watch that movie again. I'll also have to see if I can find that game again. One thing this sequel made me nostalgic over is the Tron arcade game. I played the hell out of that game and also its sequel, Discs of Tron. Those were good times.