New Country Strong Still + Video Interview + TRON Review
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Highligts of IGN’s enthusiastic article - Possible Spoilers
Jeff Bridges, who anchors the entire experience by playing both the hero and the villain of the piece, is predictably capable stepping back into the shoes of ENCOM CEO Kevin Flynn, a man who we learn has disappeared on the night he tells his young son Sam that he’s discovered a miracle within his new creation. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) eventually grows up into a stubborn underachiever who loves to make bold corporate espionage plays against the very company that he stands to inherit.
Bruce Boxleitner (the OG Tron) returns as the now-weary Alan Bradley, a man who’s always remained at Sam’s defiant side in an almost apologetic manner due to Sam’s abandonment. From here, the story kicks off the basic “hero’s quest” as Sam enters the digital world of The Grid that his father created and discovers that Kevin’s been trapped inside his own creation, by his own jealous in-world avatar CLU, for decades.
There’s a very strong, basic father/son reconciliation story being told here that totally works despite the fact that it takes place in a dazzlingly dangerous world of hostile computer programs. Lost writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (who know their “daddy issues” for sure), once again present us with a story that’s really mostly about the characters and their emotional journey than it is the mysterious sci-fi world that they inhabit.
But even though we’re being presented with a surprisingly effective “passing the torch” family saga, there’s simply no escaping the breadth of this new Tron world. Tron: Legacy almost delivers double the dividends considering the fact that the original film was disqualified from Oscar special effects consideration because using computer technology to enhance you movie was considered cheating back then. The new Tron world that director Joseph Kosinski has delivered, which is still mostly filled with negative space, is a frightfully hypnotic.
As Sam, Hedlund was a strong charismatic lead who, along with Olivia Wilde as doe-eyed Quorra, provided a wonderful air of innocence and restlessness to a breathtaking world where human hours pass by as computer years.
Michael Sheen pops up briefly as a flamboyant “Ziggy Stardust” program who runs a sort of cyber-Studio 54, and James Frain appears as CLU’s somewhat bumbling second-in-command.
First time feature director Kosinski delivers thrills and a touch of heartache inside a very impressive palate of colors and noise
Sources: Still | Video | Review | via mrhedlund.com