Summary Capsule
A ripped-off programmer gets ripped out of our world and sent into the computer world to play in gladiator-style video games and defeat the evil MCP in the latest glowing cyber fashions.
Kyle's Rating: You’ll never play a normal game of frisbee again!
Kyle's Review: I think Tron is a great movie. However, Tron is not a great movie. It doesn’t have what you’d call “dramatic” acting. The slam-blam-did-you-get-all-that speed and simplicity of the real world introduction before diving right into the computer world action foreshadows modern summer blockbusters and probably angers and confuses a lot of viewers; a big cause of those people who wander the streets muttering about Tron under their breath. It’s a Walt Disney film, so ultimately it’s a pretty simple “this is good (white) / this is bad (black)” good versus evil structure. If you don’t like the colors gray, black, blue and red, you will go into a grand mal seizure once Jeff Bridges gets zapped into the computer realm (those are mostly the only colors there!). It sort of feels like a kid'’ movie only without a single child in a starring role, and if you don'’ think much of the main actors you’ll be out of luck, because you stick pretty exclusively to the top five for the entire running length. There is a lot wrong with Tron. You had to know the truth. Will you turn back now, or continue on?
Still here? Good, because I wasn’t lying about Tron being a great movie. It’s fantastic if you’re in a happy, quirk-loving flaw-forgiving mood! Jeff Bridges is charismatically cool as Flynn, a disgruntled ex-programmer whose video games programs got ripped off and when he tries to find the evidence of the crime he gets dematerialized by a matter beam (you’ll see) and transported into the realm of computers, where programs look like people. This is pre-public-access-to-Internet, so maybe Tron is one of the greatest predictions of all time. Anyway, like your standard video game plot the entire data realm is being controlled by the fiendish MCP (Master Control Program) which is a giant evil orange cylinder that has henchman Sark (incredibly creepy David Warner) round up all the programs they can find and force them to play video game battles until they “die.” It sounds nuts, and it is, but in a cool Buckaroo Bonzai kinda way. It’s great stuff! Flynn just wants to get home but to do so he’ll have to help liberate the realm from the MCP, but thankfully Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) is a special program specifically designed to kick the MCP’s ass, so the race is on to avoid Sark and help Tron throw his glow-in-the-dark data disk (a frisbee, really) into the MCP. Game on!
I know, I know. Not only is Tron an 80’s movie, but the plot sounds like an amateur film kids make in the backyard when summer vacation gets boring. But I can’t stress it enough: if you suspend your cynicism and just relax and enjoy, you’ll find Tron to be a refreshing and fun non-waste of time. The visual effects of the computer world still hold up and give the film one of the most unique atmosphere and feel ever created. Ignoring the intensely for-squares-only 80’s fashions sported in the real world at the beginning and end, you’d think Tron was made fairly recently. It’s that good. The swirly, pre-post-modern cyber-gospel score is truly a delight, and when I started (illegally, ha!) downloading music and burning cds an early mission was to create a Tron soundtrack and burn it. And I did! The music is super swell, and adds to the strong yet palatable undertones of religious imagery and ideas in the film. The relationship of program/user is treated similarly to man/God, and the parallels and revelations therein are thought provoking. Nothing too preachy, don’t worry, everything stays entertaining and it’s just a facet to consider if you so desire after the credits roll.
Yep, Tron is a great film to enjoy at any age. And those like me who used to hit the arcade on a regular basis (you youngsters go look up that word in a dictionary to see what arcades were) have to have played the memorable Tron game at least once. Remember that joystick? The lightcycles game? The fab coloring and box design? I used to beg my parents for dinner at Pizza Hut just to play Tron. And those awesome action figures! Wow! Easily some of my favorite toys of all time. I love Tron, and it will always be a cherished aspect of my childhood. Whether you’re young or old, give Tron a try. Where’s my data disk?
 1982 Rated PG SciFi Action Director
Starring
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When a person writes a program, cyber-anthropomorphism leads to the program looking like its “user” in the data world! This is how Flynn recognizes Tron and Yuri in the data world, because they look like his friends Alan (Boxleitner) and Lora (pretty hot Cindy Morgan). This is also why the movie starts with a red computer version of Flynn doing stuff.
Jeff Bridges is truly the main character, yet the film is named after Bruce Boxleitner’s security program! But that makes sense, since a film called “Flynn” is more likely to be mistaken for a pirate picture. Tron is a lot cooler and clearly conjures up images of computer and data in one’s head. Just say it three times fast in front of a mirror and see!
All the live action that occurred inside the computer was filmed in black and white, and colorized later with photographic and rotoscopic techniques.
Flynn's program is named "Clu". CLU is an old programming language.
After Flynn escapes from the light cycles arena, it is possible to hear a "Pac-Man" video game and see a graphic on the map he is watching.
In the "solar sailer" sequence, you'll see, for a brief moment, the silhouette of Mickey Mouse on the ground made to look like part of the terrain.
The poster in Alan's cubicle reads, "Gort Klaatu Barada Nikto" (a reference to the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, and also used in Army of Darkness).
A section of the end credits is in Taiwanese.
The Movie Store!
Tron: Movie [VHS]
Tron: Movie [DVD]
Intermission!
2002 is set to be the year of Tron, with the re-release of those great action figures and lightcycles, the release of brand new action figures and merchandise, and (hopefully!) the making of a sequel, tentatively titled Tron 2.0. Gee, do you think the internet will somehow be involved?
Kyle here, and I have to say that thanks to this film at least twice a week I meet friends and occasionally strangers with Flynn memorable welcome: “Greetings, programs!”
Official and Not-So-Official Websites
Tron Fan Site
Groovy Quotes
Flynn: On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.
Sark: What kind of program is he?
Master Control Program: He's not any kind of program, Sark. He's a user.
Sark: A user?!
Master Control Program: What's the matter, Sark? You look nervous.
Sark: Users... well, I mean... users wrote us. A user even wrote you!
Master Control Program: No one user wrote me! I'm worth millions of man-years!
Master Control Program: You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic.
Sark: Thank you, Master Control.
[Disappointed with Sark.]
Master Control Program: You've enjoyed all the power you've been given, haven't you? I wonder how you'd take to working in a pocket calculator.
Yori: I knew you'd escape. They haven't built a circuit that could hold you!
Kevin Flynn: It's time I level with you. I'm what you guys call a "user."
Yori: You're a user?
Kevin Flynn: I took a wrong turn somewhere.
Tron: If you ARE a user, then everything you've done has been according to a plan, right?
Kevin Flynn: Ha, ha, ha, you WISH! Well, you guys know what it's like. You just keep doing what it looks like you're supposed to be doing no matter how crazy it seems.
Tron: That's the way it is for programs, yes.
Kevin Flynn: I hate to disappoint you, pal, but that's the way it is for users, too.
Tron: Stranger and stranger...
Soundtrack Review
The score is the coolest! It’s lush and grand operatic cyber-gospel music, lots of swirls and groans and “oooooooh!” thrown into the mix. Very effective, and I especially like the end titles selection as our world in the dark is shown to look a lot like Tron’s world. Kinda makes you think, eh?
If you liked this movie, try these:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Lawnmower Man
The Goonies
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