TRON: Ares opens, not with a narration from the ever-missing Flynn (Jeff Bridges – Hell Or High Water), but an intro in the form of a clip from a 1982 TV interview which didn’t happen at the time, but which has been created with the actor having been de-aged.
Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters – X-Men: Dark Phoenix), grandson of Ed Dillinger (the late, great David Warner, who gets a couple of nods in this, especially with a big portrait up on the wall), although he’s now trilling to board members about his new 3D-printed soldier, Ares (Jared Leto – Fight Club) – his AI leading him to ask who he is, along with 3D-printed tanks and other vehicles.
In fact, with all that, I thought Automan was going to turn up for a minute!
Still, he states he’s bringing VR out of the computer screen and into reality, enthusing that for everything that can happen on the Grid, it can also now happen in real life, although his perfect killing machine soldiers can only last 29 minutes.
In a presentation to board members, he claims Ares is predictable and won’t break from his original programming. Hmm… I figured, do you think Mr Leto is likely to allow himself to be controlled? And he hasn’t let slip about the soldiers’ limited lifespan – just one of many things angry mum Elisabeth Dillinger (Gillian Anderson) confronts him about, with Ms Anderson still channelling her inner ‘Margaret Thatcher’ performance from The Crown.
Julian’s trying to crack the permanance code, which will allow his soldiers to last f
ar longer. Will ENCOM CEO and hotshot programmer Eve Kim (Greta Lee – Past Lives) – currentely at a remote Alaskan station of Flynn’s – crack it instead? What do you think. Good vs Evil, blah blah blah.
As is the way with TRON, once someone goes into the system to hack stuff, we then get a depiction of this on the Grid, here with a ton of Ares soldiers fighting, but no explanation why they’re joined by another, Athena (Jodie Turner Smith, adding to the obviously diverse cast) – what was the point of her, other than to set up a basic plot point for later? Well, nothing.
The plot for TRON Ares is fairly basic, and turns into a silly chase movie, both outside and inside the Grid, but what it DOES have in its locker is blisteringly good IMAX 3D visuals, which open up to 1.90:1 around 60-70% of the time, by my estimation, including one moment where it slowly transforms from 2.39:1 to 1.90:1, around 2/3 of the way in, as they went from the Grid to reality.
Oh, and the pumping bass from the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack will make you go deaf 😀
It’s almost tempting enough to warrant a second viewing on the big screen, although I would just hope that the 3D version does make it home viewing later on. Almost all studios don’t bother with this any more which is a great shame. Still, there’s always some Chinese knock-off company that’ll make one.
I mean, come on, Disney! Make a package of ALL THREE TRON films, and with ALL the 4K and 3D versions! I would buy it! But you won’t. Dicks.
The $180m budget has really helped everyone involved make a film that does justice to recreating the fantastic world of TRON, but given that it’s still a niche thing, it won’t attract enough people to watch it no matter how much Disney push it. Hence, they’re taking a bath on this one, and it’s only taken $64m worldwide for the weekend!
There’s also one scene that particularly blew me away, but I’ll put it behind a spoiler in case you want to be surprised…
It’s going to be in IMAX screens for a second week, as there’s nothing new out there to replace it, but the following week sees the release of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, even though it wasn’t shot in IMAX.
I also liked that the end credits have names having underscores instead of spaces, evoking programming language.
NOTE: There is a mid-credits scene, the details of which you can find out in the video below, in case you missed it.
TRON Ares is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
However, you can buy Nine Inch Nails‘ soundtrack on CD and on Vinyl.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 119 minutes
Release date: October 10th 2025
Studio: Disney
Aspect ratio: 1.90:1 (IMAX Version: 60-70%); 2.39:1 (Redcode RAW (8K))
cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7/10
Director: Joachim Rønning
Producers: Sean Bailey, Jared Leto, Steven Lisberger, Emma Ludbrook, Jeffrey Silver, Justin Springer
Screenplay: Jesse Wigutow, David DiGilio
Characters: Steven Lisberger, Bonnie MacBird
Music: Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)
Cast:
Ares: Jared Leto
Eve Kim: Greta Lee
Kevin Flynn: Jeff Bridges
Julian Dillinger: Evan Peters
Athena: Jodie Turner-Smith
Elisabeth Dillinger: Gillian Anderson
Ajay Singh: Hasan Minhaj
Seth Flores: Arturo Castro
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.