Tron (1982)

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Tron (1982)

7/10

Starring

Jeff Bridges

Bruce Boxleitner

Directed by Steven Lisberger

Tron is a cult classic and a milestone setter and the beginning of extensive use of computer animations in film production.  The thing that captivates you about Tron is the idea, the screenplay and the graphics that seemed to be so high ahead of its time that numerous studios turned down the idea because it was new, before Disney picked it up.

Based on an idea by Steven Lisberger, who came up with the idea for the film when he saw a reel of a video game from a computer firm; the name of the reel was Pong since then Lisberger became obsessed with creating a film that will incorporate video games and live animation, the animator even went as far as to study an MIT so as to have an idea on computers and stuff, there he met programmers who he shared his idea with and they assured him that it was possible. So Lisberger and his partner Donald Kushner decided to start work on what they called their “Tron Warrior, Tron gotten from the word electronic”.

The Tron plot is about a Hacker and an arcade owner Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges). Flynn got disintegrated from the real world and regenerated in the 3D graphical computer world by a software known as the Master Control.

Flynn now faced with a new world and new laws, had to join forces with the security software of the “Grid”, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), to be able to free himself and get back to the real world.

In the computer world for survival Flynn had to face a gladiator like game, where if you are not careful you will get killed.

After an intense pre-production process, Tron was filmed, done and released to only gain a mild box office success but the cult following was massive, that after Disney released the sequel and refused to re-release the original Tron on DVD again sales of the original Tron movie was going for as high as $100 in Amazon and E-bay (source/culled from wikipedia).

Tron gained a high approval rating even getting academy Award nominations for Best Costume and Best Sound. Tron spawned out a franchise which consist of multiple video games, comic books, a sequel Tron: Legacy in 2010 (continuing from where the 1982 version stopped, the sequel also got a mild box office success) and an animated series Tron: Uprising, which seems to be connecting both films.

Tron is a classic, one you will enjoy, even more than the highly visual perfection of Legacy.