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Tron: A Movie Review

Written and directed by Stephen Lisberger, Tron stands out as one of the most thrilling American Science fiction films. It was released by the Walt Disney Company in 1982. The cast includes; Jeff Bridges as Flynn, Bruce Boxleiter as Alan, David Werner as Dillinger, Cindy Morgan as Dr. Lora, Bernard Hughes as Dr. Gibbs, Dan Shor as Rom, as well as Peter Jurasic as Crom. The film was released in 1091 film theaters across America in the same year. It is a very interesting film but parental controls are necessary for children especially on the part where the characters gladiate. The setting of the film is both virtual and real.

In the movie, Flynn develops software that is stolen by Dillinger. After leaving the company, Flynn is determined to expose Dillinger’s plagiarism. He hacks into ENCOM mainframe, but his attempts are thwarted by Master Control Program, developed by Dillinger himself. Flynn is, however, determined to infiltrate the system and the MCP does not kill his spirit. With the help of former employees, Alan and Lora, he infiltrates the ENCOM. The plot is not jumbled up and is one can easily establish the flow of events; there is some aspect of chronology.

The MCP transports him into the game grid where he is to battle other programs with control from the MCP and its second in command, Sark. They are forced to participate in gladiator-like matches. It is in this arena that he meets Alan, Tron and Yori. Together, they attempt to take on the MCP. Through numerous battling, they manage to deactivate the MCP. Dillinger’s plagiarism is exposed when he walks into the office finding the MCP deactivated.

In the film, the conflict arises when Dillinger, steals Flynn’s software and uses them to climb the organizational ladder. Flynn is not letting things cool and develops a desire to expose the Dillinger’s antics. Since he is no longer an employee in ENCOM, he uses his former colleagues to help him infiltrate the system and gain access to his software. Dillinger gets to know his motives and develops the MCP to guard against his programs from a third party infiltration. This becomes the most interesting part since Flynn has to battle the MCP to expose Dillinger. The characters unite against Dillinger. All of them work hard to expose his piracy.

The protagonist in the film is Flynn while Dillinger is the Villain. However, the director develops other characters to carry on with the storyline and help build the plot. For instance, support cast like Lora, Alan, Yori and Crom are developed to help the protagonist to carry on with his mission. The MCP in this case serves to help the villain thwart the actions of the protagonist and his support cast. Towards the end, the MCP is deactivated, and Dillinger is exposed!

Tron is a dazzling movie with breath-taking scenes. The technological sound and light show is sensational, stylish, funny, as well as brainy. The most intriguing part is where Flynn enters the computer and battles other programs. In the age of special movie effects, Tron is just a state-of-the-art film. It generates a multitude of imaginary computer universe. Probably, the Disney Company has the ability to imagine any fictional landscape through animated computer programs. Their ability to integrate human actors and this imaginary world is just awesome.

The atmosphere in the film is a bit terrific but equally exciting. The gamesmen race each other at blinding speed, hurtling up and down computer grids. The speed part is terrifying. One can easily pray that the characters do not collide lest they crash each other into pieces. The characters sneak around the MCP’s logic guardian terminal and talk their way past the forbidden programs to deactivate the MCP. This is equally breath-taking but funny at the same time. The movie also draws sympathy from the viewer. At its initial stages, Flynn has developed a program which is stolen by Dillinger. The stolen programs earn him numerous promotions while poor Flynn is fired. This calls for sympathy from the viewer.

The costumes worn by different cast were impeccable. They rhymed with setting of the film. The coloring for good was blue while the coloring for evil was red. Thus, a good group (those affiliated to Flynn) wore blue combat space suits while the evil one (those loyal to Sark and MCP), wore red combat suits. However, the color is not defined to a particular group. Sark’s tank commanders wore blue but appeared green in some presentations. After defeating Sark and the MCP, the heroes drive away in different in different colored tanks; Flynn drives away in a yellow cycles, Tron (orange), while Rom drives in red cycles. Tron was nominated for best costume award.

The sound effects in the film were incredible. The soundtrack for the movie was written by electronic musician, Wendy Carlos. The music was a mixture of moog synthesizer and GDS synthesizer. The film integrated synthesized music with full orchestra. The sound effects were so great that they have inspired fellow animators, musicians and film producers.