REVIEW: 'Tron: Ares' Is A Standalone Sequel Worth Skipping And Not Even NIN Can Save It
- Christopher Mills
- Oct 8
- 6 min read
This review contains minor spoilers for 'Tron: Ares.'
Since the release of Joseph Kosinski's Tron: Legacy, which was acclaimed for its visuals and futuristic score by Daft Punk, Disney has been trying to find a way to return to the world of Tron. It's a franchise that Disney has a lot of faith in, with the animated series Tron: Uprising releasing two years after Legacy and serving as the bridge between Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy. The sequel wasn't received well by critics, bringing in mixed reviews, but it was still a small commercial success for them, which was enough to bank hard on the franchise, and since then, Tron: Legacy has sort of gained a cult following, with the film receiving high praise since.
Tron: Legacy was one of the first big Hollywood blockbusters to utilise de-ageing technology, and while it's still haunting, Disney continued to use it again and again years after. During the development of Tron: Ares, there was consideration for an AI-generated character to be included in the movie but it was decided against after considering the controversy that would arise from it. This would lead you to believe that Disney holds some morals when it comes to the use of AI, but the marketing surrounding Tron: Ares and the film itself proves that they're supportive and welcoming of the use of AI, and instead of providing a meaningful message on its danger, it stays on the side of pro-AI, promoting its usage and overall being tone deaf on its topic.
Tron: Ares takes place years after Tron: Legacy and follows Dillinger Systems and ENCOM in the race for the Permanence code, in hopes of being the first company to bring their artificial programming to the real world without the risk of it self-destructing after a small amount of time.
With time having passed since the last film, there's a lot of catching up that has to take place for both new and familiar audiences just so that everyone is on the same page about the whereabouts of the previous characters while also introducing the new characters for this film and its simplistic plot. This is all done in the process of a five-minute exposition dump, which is visually seen through the grid as TV clips, newspaper headlines and interviews quickly fly by on the screen, which is revealed to be Dillinger's Master Program, Ares (Jared Leto), coming online and learning everything he needs to so that he may proceed with his mission directive: to find the Permanence code. In short, actors didn't want to return, and Joachim Rønning had to make up for it somehow.
Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has become the head of ENCOM after Sam Flynn stepped down and vanished, alongside her sister, who unfortunately passed away from cancer. She's finishing what her sister began, which was the hunt for the Permanence code, and thankfully, she quickly comes upon it, but Julian Dillenger (Evan Peters), head of Dillenger Systems and grandson to Edward Dillenger, is right behind her and planning to use Ares as a means of stealing it from her. While Eve has moral reasons for wanting the Permanence code to help people, Julian wants it for more selfish reasons: to weaponise it and sell soldiers and weapons to the military.
This all blows up in Julian's face when Ares begins to feel, leading him to question his entire existence and if he's on the right side of history. From this point onwards, Tron: Ares becomes not only a generic movie but also quite a predictable one. With Ares now having gone rogue and on the side of Eve in hopes of staying in reality permanently, we get Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) on their tail, which results in the programs taking their fight to the real world. Tron: Ares offers the best VFX you'll see in the cinema from this year (so far) and is a movie that demands you watch it on an IMAX screen, but with the bulk of the set pieces taking place outside of the Grid, you're left with an uninteresting backdrop that takes away from what should be jaw-dropping scenery that feels lived in.
Kosinsky upgraded the Grid from the original Tron and created a whole universe that could be breathed in and explored, and instead of further developing that, Rønning strips the identity of Tron for 80% of the film. The scenes we do get in the Grid fail to even compare to its predecessor, as not much screentime is spent on them and we only ever really get to see the headquarters.
The concept of artificial programming experiencing the real world should come as interesting, but its execution here is poor, as Ares' journey follows a traditional Pinocchio "I want to be a real boy" story thread. Jared Leto is perfectly cast as the artificial intelligence, Ares, as he provides a performance that lacks any emotion and feels stiff throughout, even when he begins to grasp an understanding of the real world. Leto has been reported to be the lead since the concept of this film began in 2017, but why they were so certain on having him lead a Tron film after Garrett Hedlund gave us such an iconic performance will be a baffling decision that has partly cost them a decent film.
Greta Lee feels slightly miscast in her role in Tron: Ares, which unfortunately the bland script takes all the blame for, as it leaves her with questionable dialogue and a character whose only purpose is to serve Ares’ story. While the writing for Eve might be just as lacklustre as the movie itself, Lee’s talent allows for the opportunity to elevate her character as little as she's able to no matter how flat her character may be. The same can also be applied to Jodie Turner-Smith, who is yet another standout in the movie. She plays a role similar to Jared Leto but still manages to express her emotion, the anger that drives her to complete her mission directive no matter the circumstance. She’s your standard villain and isn’t layered, but Turner-Smith makes her threat feel real.
The women of Tron: Ares are easily shining stars of this movie that give it their all in making our time worthwhile, but Gillian Anderson is dealt a bad hand as she’s left in the role of Elisabeth Dillinger, Julian’s mother and Edward’s daughter. A role that leaves her only as the disapproving parent and not much else, and it should be a crime to get a talent such as Anderson only to do so little with her. When it comes to Evan Peters, it’s one of his most bare minimum roles yet, as he plays the spoilt crybaby who yells and must get his way. Peters never sells the role of Julian, and even when the stakes do get real, Peter’s performance, similar to Leto’s, lacks any emotion, but the only difference is that he’s not an artificial programme and is actually a human who is familiar with emotions.
A movie being straightforward isn’t a negative and is only dependent on how such a film tackles its angle, but outside of the race for the Permanence code and Ares’ eventual turn to good, all Tron: Ares has to offer is a reflection on the intricacies of AI becoming more prominent in our world, but it also gets that wrong. Tron is the perfect franchise to talk about where and when AI can be used for good and when its usage can be harmful, but all Tron: Ares is capable of is painting AI under a good light, and with their promotion with the Twitter/X-owned AI, Grok, it’s clear that it was never part of the script to dive deep into the issues of AI. “Why bother when it’s a kid movie at the end of the day?” Is the likely question they asked themselves while developing Tron: Ares.
Nine Inch Nails take over the score from Daft Punk, which is a tall task, but they provide a mind-melting experience that transports you to the Grid, but weirdly enough, it’s not enough to elevate the experience and instead works well during a standalone experience. That doesn’t stop the score of Tron: Ares from being arguably the second-best score of the year.
Tron: Ares feels like a test from Disney to discover whether this is a franchise that still garners any interest from its audience. The answer is that Tron: Ares doesn’t feel necessary, and although it tries to set up for a future, they should take their time and reevaluate what they want to do next with this franchise. This is proof right here that pretty lights and an addictive score are not enough to make a good movie, and you actually need a story that says something worth the price of admittance.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
About Tron: Ares
Premiere Date: October 10, 2025
Writer: Jesse Wigutow
Director: Joachim Rønning
Production: Walt Disney Pictures
Distribution: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges
Synopsis: Ares, an advanced program, is sent from the digital realm into the physical world on a perilous mission, marking humanity’s first contact with artificial intelligence beings.
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