TRON: Legacy/YMMV


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Clu. The look on his face during his flashback and when Kevin reintegrates with him is just heartrending. After all, he was simply trying to fulfill his objective in the only way he knew how, and while Kevin developed as a person, the arrogance he'd left Clu with -- including the belief that he knew best and was already perfect -- was a driving force behind many of his actions. Considering that he was a program, he lacked the broadness of mind which humans like Kevin and his son Sam have.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: Several announcements about the film got this reaction, especially Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner returning as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley/Tron respectively, as well as Daft Punk composing the soundtrack.
  • Anvilicious: The board room scene doesn't even attempt to hide its criticism of current software design and business practices. Also ironic that this is in a Disney film, given the stance the company generally takes towards copyright infringement.

Alan Bradley: Given the prices we're charging to students and schools, what improvements have been made in Flynn… er, I mean, Encom OS 12?
Beat
CEO: (who has no real idea) ... yeah this year we put a "12" on the box.

    • Then again, this analysis of the film argues that Tron: Legacy is actually an attack on idea that all information MUST be free, and it makes some very good points.
  • Award Snub: Despite getting critical and audience-based praise for its Visual Effects and Soundtrack, neither of these things were nominated for the Academy Awards. Instead, it got nominated for Best Sound Editing...
  • Badass Decay: Kevin Flynn is less proactive in this film than he was in the first one, instead withdrawing himself from the Grid because of his inability to defeat Clu. To paraphrase Dilbert, he's actively waiting for change, which happens when Sam arrives. Once he does, the old Kevin Flynn begins to reemerge.
  • Crazy Awesome: Castor
  • Critical Dissonance: While the film wasn't savaged by critics, it was generally viewed as being So Okay It's Average by said critics. Audiences, however, had a different reaction, particularly Rob Bricken.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: One thing everyone agrees upon including the critics, is that the score is awesome.
    • The band Daft Punk at the End of the Line Club provides this.
    • When Sam first goes to the arcade and switches on the power Journey's "Separate Ways" starts blaring over the sound system.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Clu
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Castor
  • Even Better Sequel
  • Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: The movie, to put it very mildly, is rife with Christian, Gnostic and Buddhist undertones.
  • Everyone Is Satan in Hell: ... And, unsurprisingly, Clu shares many traits with a certain fallen angel.
  • Fan Dumb: In an attempt to appear clever, many fans who disliked the movie note the lack of the character called Tron in a movie called TRON... Ignoring in fact that Tron does have a major presence in the movie as Rinzler. Also, it should be noted that Tron wasn't the main character the original movie, either.
  • Fan Nickname: Some people refer to Tron/Rinzler as Tronzler
  • Geeky Turn On: Anybody else suddenly become a lot more interested in Quorra after she said she had read the entire library of books?
  • Hell Is That Noise: The quiet flickering sound that Rinzler always makes. Also, the track "Fall" is backed by an electronic screech that steadily increases in pitch as the song progresses.
  • Iron Woobie: Quorra.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Castor/Zeus
  • Memetic Molester: Judging by the Kink Meme for this fandom, Clu headed here faster than a stolen light-cycle.
  • Memetic Mutation: "KEVIN FLYNN!!! WHERE ARE YOU NOW?!"
    • "Out there is a new world! OUT THERE IS OUR VICTORY!!! Out there... is our destiny!"
    • ""The game has changed", son of Flynn!" .
  • Mood Whiplash: While Quorra and Sam are fighting against Black Guards in the End of Line Club, Castor is dancing the entire time.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Clu is a dog-kicking program who takes pleasure in viewing and participating in games to derez citizens in Tron City. It's not a question of if Clu crosses the line, but when. Here are some milestones:
    • Stealing Tron's light jet and leaving Tron to die in the Sea of Simulation after Tron refuses to shoot down the Flynns and crashed his jet into Clu's. Needless to say, much of the fanbase turned against Clu after seeing that.
    • Clu kicking Kevin Flynn to the ground after Flynn apologizes for giving a flawed and impossible task. Yes, Clu might've just been doing his job, but taking out all of that anger and confusion on his creator like that?! It's no wonder Sam lost himself in rage and ran up to punch Clu's face twice afterwards.
    • And even before all of that, the genocide of the ISOs. Since he viewed the ISOs as an imperfection (as well as threatening his ability to create a perfect system, which is exactly what he was made to do), he purposely reprograms an ISO into a virus to infect and derezz ISOs in Evolution. This was not just used as a distraction for Flynn while he takes over the Grid, it was also used as an excuse to turn the Basics against the ISO population.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome
    • Sam facing off against several of Clu's minions looks like it would be a pretty awesome fight scene, right? Too bad all we get to see of it is Jarvis' reaction as it happens right outside his door.
    • We never actually get to see how Sam and Quorra leave the Grid and re-materialize in the real world, or Sam leave the real world and appear in the Grid for that matter (this crosses over with Take Our Word for It).
  • Nightmare Fuel: The Uncanny Valley works in favor of CLU, but unfortunately it affects 1989 Flynn and Alan too.
  • Rule of Symbolism
    • Kevin Flynn is God to the programs, and Jesus in terms of artistic direction. One noticeable scene is when he puts up his hood and walks into the wild after Clu's rebellion, kinda like how Jesus walked into the desert to be tested. Also, if Flynn is God, Sam and Clu are Jesus and Lucifer, respectively, and the ISOs are humanity.
    • Clu's Carrier is different from Sark's; when viewed from the side, it looks an awful lot like a sword.
    • The arrival of the son of the creator is heralded by a star in the east. (At one point, Sam mentions they're going "east" to the portal.)
    • Flynn's confrontation with Clu has hints of the parable of the Prodigal Son (a father figure accepting/welcoming back his wayward son).
  • Sequelitis:
  • Show Accuracy, Toy Accuracy: In the opening scene set in 1989, Kevin Flynn shows Sam an action figure of Tron. This may look like Product Placement, but a Tron action figure with the light-up gimmick seen only in modern-day TRON: Legacy toys never actually existed in Real Life.[1] The only reason for its inclusion seems to be to serve as a Chekhov's Gun establishing the T tetromino pattern on Tron's chest, to clue viewers in when they later see the same pattern on Rinzler's chest.
  • Strangled by the Red String: Carefully averted. Since at the end of the movie, Quorra becomes flesh and blood in the real world, if her romantic interactions with Sam had been even a little more direct, a lot of viewers probably would have been left feeling like the whole thing was just a convenient plot device that would let the two of them passionately make some hybrid babies. Instead, they intentionally downplayed it, with it at most being a big Ship Tease. Which is actually a good thing, since the audience is actually left curious about what will happen next, instead of rolling their eyes at what could have otherwise been painfully obvious.
    • Olivia Wilde said that this was done intentionally -- she knew that the romance would ring false.
  • Tear Jerker
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A frequent criticism of Legacy is that the questions of what makes the ISOs special and how Rinzler regained his identity as Tron are poorly developed.
    • The latter may suffer from Coconut Superpowers, because if the CGI model of Bruce Boxleitner's head had been detailed enough to be used in closeups, the scene where Rinzler says "I fight for the Users!" could have had much more impact by showing him taking off his helmet.
    • The latter makes more sense with a bit of Fridge Brilliance. Check the TRON: Legacy fridge section for details.
  • Uncanny Valley
    • The younger faces for Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner were both realistic-looking and moderately Conspicuous CGI. In Clu's case, this was evidently deliberate.
    • Invoked by the Armory Sirens. They look sexy, and they certainly strut in a fashion that should be sexy... but in a very synchronized, vaguely robotic way, lacking the fluidity of typical human movement. This is hammered home when they walk backward.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: Very much so.
  • The Woobie
    • Quorra, on account of being the last ISO.
    • Tron is becoming this in the Fandom, especially all after all the crazy brain-screwing he's been through at the hands of Clu.
    • Kevin Flynn. All the guy wanted to do was to create a better world, and he gets stuck in the Grid for decades instead while his own program takes over. Decades in our world, thousands in his.
    • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Clu in the backstory. Less so in the present day, but you still feel bad about what got him where he is now.
Back to TRON: Legacy
  1. ↑ Tron action figures from 1982 were molded in colored transparent plastic with circuitry painted over it. The discs glowed in the dark, and the figures had only five points of articulation.
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