The Story.....

"This is the story of two worlds..." declares the announcer before the film starts. There is our world, and the computer world where the computer programs we have written are living, breathing conscious humanoids.

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is an above average computer designer, as well as something of an overgrown kid (the kind of guy most kids would have really liked as a family friend). He has written several sophisticated computer games (sophisticated by 80's standards) such as "Space Paranoids" where the controller mans a tank and travels down a maze gunning down hovering vehicles with giant legs before they stomp on you and crush your tank. He also wrote the famous "Light Cycles" game where players manipulate supersonic speed bikes which leave a hardened light trail which they must avoid crashing into and try to drive their opponent into.

One day he finds himself in a hell of his own personal creation, when a hi-tech lazer digitiser built by the ENCOM company to transform matter into computer stored information, misfires and atomises him, sucking him into the computer world and he is forced to participate and compete with other game warriors to the death for real in the very computer games he created.

"Two Worlds"

The concept of "Tron" followed the avant garde notion in science fiction of a computer world, or of virtual reality, originated by the sci-fi novels of Philip K. Dick. An idea which had a lasting inspiration in the 80's on TV shows like "Doctor Who", "Star Trek: Next Generation", "Red Dwarf", the William Gibson cyberpunk novels, and even Japanese Anime. In-fact it is very easy to label this film "The Matrix of the 80's".

In the beginning of the film we see moments in the life of both worlds, co-existing but unaware fully of one another. Most of the characters in the real world have a counterpart in the next world, played by the same actor- it's like the computer world is a mirror of our own. There is a few interesting and well timed dissolves and cuts to the computer and the real world.

We see the big city by nighttime illuminated by lights in the apartments, cars on the road, and we dissolve into the patterns and blips of the computer landscape. The computer world is a vast one of purple skies and rectangular gridded clouds, and input/output towers (referred to as Io towers for that sense of cosmic mysticism) aiming red and blue beams at the heavens above. The kind of images I'd expect to see on the cover of an album by Tomita. Aided sonically by very etherial and cathedral echo music and sound effects lingering in the background, emphasising the vastness.

By comparison the real world is rather more contained in a narrow view where only the workplace and the home seem to matter. But once we follow Flynn into the computer world, that's where we stay- the outside world slips from our grasp. We are a prisoner with him, or we've escaped our hum drum lives with him, however you choose to look at it. I feel that is the clinching point which raises this film above "The Matrix" which is that it actually exploits the computer world as a prison. In "The Matrix" they tossed away a pretty good concept by having the characters able to jack in and out of the Matrix whenever they wanted. Here there is a very real barrier between this world and the next which seemingly cannot be breached. Even if Flynn escaped his captors on the game grid, he would still be trapped in the computer. In that it makes the idea of transgressing planes from one world to the next that much more remarkable and tasking.

The hardware in the computer world consists of characters who wear tight clothes and helmets with circuit chips all over them, with discs attached to their backs. And believe it or not the illusion works by the skill of fluorescent lighting. In terms of transport, there is the Recognisers- hovering giant craft with big stomping feet which patrol the games domain, and are actually very intimidating. There is of course also the light cycles, which are fantastic and to own one would be a boyhood dream, the graceful design and curviture, the way they travel at breakneck supersonic speeds and turn just as reflexively, and also the engine makes a very pleasing noise.

There are sadly only two lightcycle tournaments in the film. I have watched and re-watched them repeatedly since I was 11 years old. So much so that I have thought about the game three dimensionally and can verify that it is actually impossible for the cycles to make the formations they do during the film without crashing into one another. The tournament has a sudden intensity the first time you watch it, the following times you can just lay back and appreciate the grace and tournament of the animation. I never ever tire of watching it.

Some people have labelled the CGI of the film horrendously dated, which I find amusing since this is one rare occasion in a film where CGI effects are actually supposed to look Computer Generated. however I warn you that these are very harsh images which can give you a headache if you've been staring at a bright screen for a long time beforehand.

The Characters....

Kevin Flynn is your overgrown boy who still loves playing video games and hide and seek. And strangely enough that's his talent- he knows what the kids want from games and can write cutting edge computer games and he is a grandmaster hacker. Given that most of the characters in the film, in the real corporate world and the grim computer world are very straight faced and serious, he's a welcome comic relief character. Even when the situation is grim, he still has a laugh and joke. When first accosted by the sinister guards in glowing armour and electrified cattle prods, his first response is "if this is about those parking tickets I can explain everything"

However he does briefly get a moment to rant about how several years ago company espionage in ENCOM had him wrongly accused of copyright fraud which forced him out of his job, leaving him to work in the local video arcade, living off the quarters in the slot machines. He can only afford to live in his own workplace (you don't hear tribulations of economics like that in the movies anymore).

The other major protagonist is in the computer world- a security program called Tron (played by Brian Bloxteir who went on to star in "Babylon 5"). It's interesting how the programs behave and interact in a way which follows their written function (for instance a binary unit program runs on only positive and negative responses and actually cannot verbalise more than "yes" and "no" in a conversation). Since Tron is a security program pressed with the task of shutting down unscheduled systems, its interesting watching how suspicious he is of characters around him, including Flynn. He is also a fierce warrior who dispatches his game opponents with an uncomfortable degree of ruthlessness, as he quickly and ferociously flings glowing disc frisbees at them and dissintegrates them. But as a prisoner fighting for his life, if he was merciful, it would of course be a dangerous weakness.

Then we have the antagonists:

Ed Dillinger (David Warner) is the human adversary in the real world who was responsible for the copyright fraud which got Flynn fired. He also created the Master Control Program, the more major villain of the film. Dillinger himself is more a hate figure than an actual bad guy, the way he sneaks his way up the ziggaraut by exploiting others, and when he achieves his senior position, he fires his employees at the drop of a hat. But his most endearing quality is his closet vulnerability when he communicates with his creation. So much so there are moments where we truly feel sorry for the guy as he loses control.

The Master Control Program is a great intelligence. A program who's ability to capture and assimilate other programs has grown so powerful and smart, he now considers Dillinger and all other humans superfluous to his ability to manage and run the world and he plans soon to break into the systems within the Pentagon and the Kremlin. In short he's power mad and even Dillinger can't control him as he anticipates too quickly Dillinger's responses and manipulates him into co-operation before he can put a foot down. Even in the real world the MCP can threaten its owner with blackmail- threatening to expose Dillinger's fraud activities to the newspapers and destroy his reputation.

In the computer world he is far more threatening and almost omnipotent. He leads the warrior elite- a band of programs who renounce the authority of the users who created them and instead follow the great intelligence of him, and capture other programs. Anyone he can assimilate he does, anyone he cannot assimilate either joins his army or gets sent to the game grid to die.

"All programs have a desire to be useful, but in moments you will no longer seek communication with each other or your superfluous users. You will each be part of me, and together we will be complete"

Sark (also played by Warner) is the MCP's second in command, and to be honest he isn't that interesting a villain. Just another throwaway bad guy who just punches his subordinates when they fail to do their job properly and shouts insults like "byte-brain" (notice how in the "Tron" universe we get bizarre technical meets colloquial expressions like "who does this guy calculate he is?").

However he does represent an important villain quality. One which runs through all the villains which is his own inner weaknesses of fear- the very quality which maintains the hierarchy of tyranny and rule by threat of death. it's also one which makes the characters all human. Even towards the end the MCP himself becomes afraid and it is a remarkable, albeit brief moment.

Philosophical themes and dialogue.....

The idea of a computer world typically presents opportunities for philosophical discussions about how reality is in the eye of the beholder, and about religious notions of "the next world". In the case of "Tron" it was also an opportunity to envision real life computer games of mortal combat. We witness a computer world where 80's arcade games are brought to life in fluorescent, glowing game grids. Bike racing tournaments at supersonic high speeds where they must dodge video wall mazes and each other's video wall residue trail, otherwise they will burn- no extra lives- when you're dead, you are dead. It ain't just another safe trip to the arcade and back.

So for the most part this is just an action adventure romp with lots of eye candy. However there are still several moments of thoughtful dialogue- and unlike "The Matrix", it's dialogue that sounds very natural and conversational.

When Flynn is in the world of the computer, he encounters a computer civilisation which hails him as a user- as their creator, as their God. It's similar to the second coming theme in "The Matrix" but notice how much more colloquial the words are:

Tron: If you are a user, then everything you've done has been according to a plan, right?

Flynn: Ha! You wish!..... I mean you guys know what it's like. You just keep doing whatever 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.

Flynn: I hate to disappoint you pal, but most of the time that's the way it is for users too.

Tron: Stranger and stranger!

Suffice it to say there is a fair degree of biblical imagery and overtones to the action. The MCP and his minions are coloured in red to represent Satan and evil. The soldiers have red lighing on the circuits of their armour, and the MCP himself is a giant beam of pure energy in a red hue. In persecuting programs for their belief in the users, or "religious fanatics" as they call them, they come across more as a space age Roman Empire with their own gladiator pits. Victims of the MCP's power to deresolute programs even has them thrust against the wall adopting the bodily frame of a crucifixion.

Tron and Flynn's whole adventure seems replete with religious metaphors. There is a death and ressurection, and even an encounter between Tron and a powerful giant ogre, lifted straight from the story of David versus Golliath (very much a highlight scene).

But my favourite moment is where Tron communicates with his user, Alan. We met Alan briefly in the beginning of the film (who was also played by Bloxteir)- a typical snooty yuppie, but by this point we have spent so long in the computer world that we almost believe that the real world is some kind of heaven. We have been shown the characters of our own world- the computer designers, and we see their relationships with the computer world which is influenced by their designs and programming. One designer even spoke of how "Our spirit remains in every program we design".

Tron manages to sneak to an Input Output tower and persuade the Guardian (Barnard Hughes) to let him pass. The Guardian imparts a 50 cents piece of wisdom "All that is visible, must grow beyond itself, and extend into the realm of the invisible." and Tron enters the chamber bathed in light and speaks to his God. The beauty of the scene is in taking something as insignificant as a computer user instructing its program, and with the right images and the right music it gains a mythic, religious feel of touching the heavens. I am by no means a church-going person, and I am often less than impressed by cinema's blatant religious symbolism, but for me that scene was an exception and really moved me.

Conclusion

I don't have many complaints about the film. The themes are good, the escapism value is high, and there's a wonderful touch to rebelliousness about it all. There is nearly always something interesting happening on screen, even if it is superficial. However where Flynn's character is involved there are the odd moments of bad and unfunny slapstick. Even these don't detract from the hook of the animation of the world around him. One scene which does irk me however is where Sark decides he's had enough of the heroes and instead of killing them face to face, he locks them in a room and leaves them to die when the craft self destructs. It's just so comic book and dumb. That is one reason to downgrade the film by a star, but the rest of it is pretty outstanding and the stuff of the film's cult endurance over 20 years.

Recommended Parental Guidance when watching with children. Contains some disturbing fantasy violence.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12