(no subject)
It reminded me of re-booted Transformers.
Another attempt to re-create 'classic' movies from the 80's.
In Transformers it was a nod to the little girl bike scene from The Goonies. Blatant ex-hippy parental figures, offbeat humor, and the type of innocence, naivete and idealism that may have pervaded that era. Likewise, with coming of age themes -- first time in college, first love, first car, etc. And, save the world antics, et all. I think more recent movies have a tendency to be darker, more jaded, apathetic and cynical.
In the 80's, characters talked and tried to find alternatives to violence. If there was violence, character fatalities were rare. At least, it seems that way judging by A-Team, GI JOE or anything else from that era. 2000 and beyond, it was Neo and Trinity walking into a building and gunning 100 people down without batting an eyelash or feeling slightest remorse. Somewhere along the line, the value of human lyfe seems to have diminished a little? American Pie and Juno are exceptions, but they may very well be far outside the norm?
With Tron Legacy, its moreso about auditory cues. Keyboard synthesizer heavy background music. The type of organic, amorphous and repetitive electronica music the 80's is known for. Tron Legacy = the loudest I've heard Journey(slight soundtrack spoiler) played in my entire lyfe. I guess that's what people played loud in their cars during the 80's, before rap was invented? Hehe.
Not to say that the new Tron lacks 80's themes. It definitely has them -- in the way that Transformers rebooted has them. The main shortcoming may be it feels recycled and artificial at times. There isn't enough effort made in creating characters and plots that exist in 3 dimensions, which results in sentiment and motivation being lost in vague ambiguousness.
Emotions like fear, anger, love, concern, pain and betrayal aren't quite emoted nor expressed. Not clearly, if not convincingly. They're moreso censored beneath a veil of apathy consistent with current era film where everyone has a poker face & spontaneously adopts a worldview of japanese conservatism which prevents them from expressing emotions, out in the open, where others may see it.
End result -- like watching someone accidentally burn their hand on a stove with no change in expression. Every actor on earth unanimously decided they were "cool" like the terminator or Neo from the Matrix and engaged in a mass boycott of facial and emotional cues. Luke Skywalker screaming: "NOO, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE" when he learns Darth Vader is his father may not be the shining example of what actors strive for in their craft. But, compared to the recent mass spam of 80's reboots, Luke Skywalker deserves a !@#%'n Grammy for that scene!
Whatever the intended emotional arc and plotline, I didn't really feel it.
It was decent, good even -- MAYBE. But, nothing special? Another mass-produced, carbon copy, with a lot of technology, FX and demographic targeting thrown in for marketing purposes, but lacking the benefit of a heart or soul? More or less on par with the Transformers re-makes.
I don't know what to think.
Apparently, I don't have all the answers, yet.