Disney creates cure for insomnia with ‘Tron: Legacy’ (2010)

As “Tron: Legacy” (2010) lightly brushes over might-have-been interesting issues such as open-source code versus code ownership and settles for a flat, emotionless, CGI-effects-driven adventure, composer Daft Punk and the sound engineers deliver a steady “computer” drone sound.

Backing the “inside the computer” travails of Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), his dad Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, back from the 1982 original) and their friend Quorra (Olivia Wilde), the sounds are presumably there for the sake of dramatic buildup, like what you might find in the early acts of an epic like “Avengers: Endgame.” Our excitement builds as we know we’re in for a grand, sweeping epic.

Except here, we aren’t, so instead “Tron: Legacy” accidentally invents a soundscape so soothingly boring that if it can’t cure the worst case of insomnia, then that person is doomed to never fall asleep.

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Watching other people play a (boring) game

“Tron: Legacy” is penned by four writers (and I’d be surprised if any of them could explain all the story’s details sensibly), but Disney would’ve been better off going back to “Tron” creator Steven Lisberger. Yes, his 1982 film was droningly boring, too, but it was groundbreaking in the way it imagined a tale within a computer program. Basically, within a MMORPG computer game, but with relatable metaphors for aspects of computing – for example, the memory core as the repository of key information.

“Tron” paved the way for this now-booming subgenre of virtual-world adventures, from “The Matrix” to “Ready Player One” to the “Jumanji” sequels. And inevitably, unfortunately, “Tron: Legacy.”

Lisberger’s movie tells a basic story about Flynn seeking pivotal information, and “Legacy’s” story is about Sam wanting to dodge villains and reach the gateway back to the real world. The writers and director Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) have solid SF themes right in front of them and somehow pass on all of them. It’s hard to engage with a movie that doesn’t engage with itself.

To be fair, there is a cliched father-son bonding arc, and Quorra asks Sam what the sun is like, and there’s a mission to stop the villainous program (a de-aged Bridges as Clu) from emerging into the real world. He’ll destroy it because he hates imperfection. That’s a good “why,” but the writers forget the “how” on every level. Since Clu isn’t organic, how could he exist outside the computer? And how would he go about destroying the world?

A good theme, totally avoided

“Legacy’s” most interesting theme is the question of whether computer programs should have intellectual copyright protections (as they do in reality). The villains (the board of Flynn’s company) say yes; the hero (20-something Sam) says no.

Kosinski’s picture engages with this question far less robustly than does another pro-open-source movie, “Antitrust” (2001). That film doesn’t do it well either, but at least shows how if something is owned, it’s vulnerable to being stolen.

Another thing about that, though: If Flynn’s company makes money, it can exist and pay people to write the code. Maybe some would want to do it for free (indeed, people write free code in the real world), but many of them logistically could not, because they’d need to spend their time at a money-making job.

Potential answers are crowd-funding and donations; “Antitrust” touches upon this idea. “Tron: Legacy” does not. And honestly, even if an argument for making all programs free was coherently presented, I couldn’t take it seriously unless Disney allowed admission to “Tron: Legacy” for free (with optional donations) or at least released it for free on home video. Or at least donated Daft Punk’s score to insomnia research.

It’s not a purely theoretical concept: Radiohead released an album for free (or whatever the downloader wanted to pay) in 2007 and made a profit of 3 million pounds.

As cynical as it gets

Tons of projects are in the running for the title of Disney’s most cynical cash grab, but due to the built-in irony of “Tron: Legacy’s” theme, it’s hard to top. The deep cynicism and hypocrisy go beyond the film into the marketing – not only in the sense that it goes against its hero’s beliefs, but also in the sense that it aggressively aimed for dishonesty with potential fans.

Leading up to “Legacy’s” release, Disney made the original “Tron” as hard to find as possible – removing it from streaming and holding off on issuing the DVD until 2011 – and some theorize it’s because potential new fans would be turned off by how dated and dull it is. “Tron: Legacy” – merely called “Tron” in the opening titles – is one of those awkward legacy sequels that wants to cash in on the brand (which in this case expanded into video games, appropriately), but not necessarily the previous movie itself.

When “Tron: Ares” begins to be marketed later in 2025, don’t be surprised if Disney continues the trend of downplaying its lead-in – although I don’t know how many people could stay awake through “Tron: Legacy” anyway.