Movie Review Tron

Tron (1982) 

Directed by Steven Lisberger

Written by Steven Lisberger 

Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Bernard Hughes

Release Date July 9th, 1982 

Published July 10th 2012 

Comedian Dennis Miller once satirized then Vice President Al Gore’s allegedly stony and boring persona by claiming that the VP’s favorite movie was “Tron.” If you have seen the original, 1982 version, of “Tron” you likely found that joke pretty funny, in 1999 when the joke was made and even today.

Yes, “Tron” is not the most exciting exercise in acting or dialogue or special effects (compared to what we see today). But, in its day “Tron” was cutting edge in terms of effects, if still stolid in acting and stumbling in dialogue. What looks remarkably cheesy through the prism of today was mind blowing in 1982.

Forget it Mr. High and Mighty Master Control

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) was once the top programmer at the Encom software company. But, hen his many ideas for new videogames were stolen by a fellow programmer, the slimy Ed Dillinger (David Warner), Flynn is devastated and then fired. Now, Flynn runs an arcade while secretly trying to hack Encom and get his games back.

Flynn has been battling Dillinger’s Master Control Program and mostly been losing until his former co-workers Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora (Cindy Morgan), Flynn’s former flame, approach him at the arcade. Alan’s Tron program has been locked up by the Master Control thanks to Flynn’s hacking. Flynn, however, has a plan to get Tron out and take down the MCP.

Derezzed

Once Flynn, Alan and Lora break into Encom, Flynn gets to work on invading the MCP. Unfortunately, for Flynn he finds himself on the wrong side of a laser beam that digitizes him and puts him inside the computer grid where the MCP uses programs like Sark (David Warner, again) to force programs into deadly videogame competitions. If Flynn loses he could be ‘derezzed’ a term you can take to mean killed inside the computer.

“Tron” is awkward and a little boring outside the computer world and strange and entertaining inside. The dialogue goes from oddly delivered to just plain odd with lines about ‘Micro-Sectors,’ ‘Bit Brains,’ ‘Users,’ and my favorite odd line “Who does he calculate he is.”

High gloss camp

Even the most diehard fan of “Tron” must admit how campy it all is. From the dialogue to the odd looking lighted costumes to Bruce Boxleitner’s wooden performance as both Alan and Tron, there is a heavy dose of unintentionally funny stuff in “Tron.” In fact, the kitsch is nearly overwhelming by the end of “Tron.”

So what makes “Tron” a classic? How does this admittedly goofy looking movie remain part of the pop culture ephemera? “Tron” strikes a lasting chord for being document of it’s time, a relic of a period before computer effects consumed movies. “Tron” was the first of its kind.

Tron invented at MIT

Director Steven Lisberger was an MIT graduate who worked on first generation computer animation while in school. Inspired by the video game “Pong” Lisberger came up with the idea to combine computer animation with videogame graphics and “Tron” was born. Lisberger took the idea to Disney who committed 12 million dollars to his visionary idea and the rest is movie history.

The cheese-factor is inescapable but so is the film’s place in movie history. “Tron” will be remembered forever for its visionary use of animation, computer graphics and videogame tech. Bruce Boxleitner will never live down his beyond wooden appearance and Oscar winner Jeff Bridges has a little to be embarrassed about as well, but mostly “Tron” is a movie classic.