Movie Review: Tron Legacy (3D)

I'd have preferred a non-3D viewing, really, since most of the effects are subtle enough that they didn't add a lot to the film. Still, the 3D stuff was produced WITH the movie, as opposed to afterward, so it was better than it would have been if it were just tacked on to cash in. That said, I had to take the glasses off several times to ease the 3D headache.

Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprise their original roles as Kevin Flynn/Clu and Alan Bradley/Tron.

Flynn's gone missing. His son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), goes looking for clues at Flynn's Arcade and soon finds himself fighting for his life on the Game Grid like his father did 20 years ago. Conveniently, he's fresh from leading the city cops on a high-speed motorcycle chase--so of course he's a whiz on the Light-cycles.

The discs are no longer so Frisbee-like, the fighting much more athletic and gymnastic (maybe these are 64 bit instead of 8?). The Light-cycles are pretty damn cool--and are capable of much more complex maneuvering (curves!) than their predecessors. When a Warrior is "de-rezzed"(destroyed) in battle, there's an intense liquid splash of tiny cubes. Very cool.

Instead of Alan/Tron's love interest Lori/Yori (Cindy Morgan), there's Olivia (House) Wilde's Quorra. She's a fighter, not simply in-distress eye candy.

There are plenty of little call-backs to the original, but not in the soundtrack. Daft Punk's techno/house music fits the flick nicely, reminding me of the original "Terminator" and Blue Man Group. They don't quote any of Wendy Carlos' music from the original "Tron," and that's too bad, but not a deal-breaker.

Overall, the look of the Computer World (the "Grid") is more refined than that of the original, maybe missing some of the wireframed primitive coolness and definitely feeling like more of a grown-up movie (none of the kiddie gags of the original). Going by the opening narration by Kevin Flynn, these changes are his work:

The Grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they traveled through the computer. Ships, motorcycles. With the circuits like freeways. I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then, one day... i got in.

The CGI de-aging on Flynn/Clu is nicely done, though it's a little obvious at times in "real-world" flashbacks.

One amusing aspect of both movies is the religious relationship between Programs and Users. In "Tron," even Sark (David Warner) is afraid when he learns that Kevin Flynn is a User. In "Legacy," however, the fighting programs that face off against Sam Flynn relish the opportunity to destroy one of their "oppressors," mocking him as the 'son of our Maker.' Considering that his father was a hands-on creator, mingling face-to-face with Programs, I guess familiarity did breed contempt. I wonder how many fundies will see the movie and demand an apology for their bruised feelings at such a thing.

Overall, I'll give it an 8; 2 points off for the headachy 3D.

Here's the IMDb page.

FOLLOWUP (Dec. 25, 2010): Just back from seeing the 2D version. Better experience this time around--I wasn't fiddling with glasses or rubbing the bridge of my nose. There are really only a few solid 3D moments, anyway. The three leads--Bridges, Hedlund and Wilde--are fun!

Jeff Bridges-as-Flynn has a quiet Zen vibe that reminds me of "The Big Lebowski's" Dude, but dressed in clean Japanese robes. As Clu, he had a way of saying some of his lines that made me laugh, but I was the only one.

Garrett Hedlund gives Sam just the right amount of cockiness and fearlessness. We see early on that he's a thrill-seeker--the high-speed bike chase and a BASE-jumping scene that follows set us up for similar situations in the Computer World. I'm wary of conveniences after last year's painfully long reading of Mercedes Lackey's "Valdemar" series.

Olivia Wilde reminds me of a 1920's "flapper," probably because of her short-bobbed hair. Quora comes across as a veteran fighter but not world-weary or cynical. Quiet and low-key with a rare smile worth seeing.

Without the headache, a much more enjoyable film.

Movie: Back to the Future (trilogy)

1. BTTF (1985)
Rating: 5/5
Watch again? YES.
This past weekend, I went to a "Back to the Future" trilogy marathon at a friend's house. I'd been looking forward to seeing the first one, if only to see if it still held up to my memories of it.

Did it ever! Of course there's the DeLorean, and I was digging the mid-'80s ILM special effects. Back before all this computer-graphics stuff, the ILM guys were working with film to get the signature blue glow of the car's transition into time. It looks marvelous.

The story is straight forward: Marty McFly goes back to 1955 and has to find his friend "Doc" Emmett "GREAT SCOTT!!" Brown for help. In the meantime he meets his own parents and messes up their meeting. While Doc gets the DeLorean ready for its trip back to 1985, Marty has to bring his parents together--or he'll never exist!

Best acting of the three flicks, for the simple reason that everyone plays it straight. The humor just happens naturally, mostly hinging on Marty's fish-out-of-water status.


2. BTTF II (1989)
Rating: 2/5
See again? Nope.

I hate this movie. It's easily as bad as the book. The acting is all over-the-top and WHY THE HELL IS EVERYONE YELLING THEIR FREAKING LINES?! Everyone. Even the car is yelling, but in her case it's understandable--she's yelling at her stupid agent for getting her such a crappy gig. The humor is forced and much less smart than that of the original. I get the feeling that the director's entire pep talk to the cast was: "Remember, this is a comedy! Act funny! ACTION!"

This movie's bad enough that I'm surprised George "Your acting sucks, but we'll fix it in Post" Lucas wasn't involved.

The special effects suffer. The time-transfer effects on the DeLorean are much the same as in the first movie, but this one has some bad or awkward transitions from effects shots to real-world shots, or clumsy-looking real-world effects (the flying cars "landing" look like they're coming in nose-low and bouncing, but the miniature effects shots show the cars flying level and smooth).

Sadly, the book is faithful to the movie: it sucks, too. Just not as loud. And they both drag.

Marty and Doc go to the year 2015 to save Marty's kids from jail. Marty finds a sports almanac (1950 to 2000), hoping to make a few bucks--but Doc takes it and throws it away. Biff (the bully from the first movie, now an old man) grabs it, steals the DeLorean and goes back to 1955 to give himself a present that'll make him filthy rich. Doc & Marty have to go back to fix that...and then the DeLorean gets hit by lightning. Doc and the car vanish...to 1885!

I'm adding two points because the movie's got a DeLorean in it.


3. BTTF III (1990)
Rating: 2
See again? Maybe.
Much more tolerable than its predecessor, but still not as good as the original. Marty--still in 1955--gets a letter from Doc, from 1885. The DeLorean's waiting in a mine outside of town, waiting for 1955 Doc and Marty to get it and repair the time circuits so Marty can go home to 1985. Doc tells him to destroy the time machine as soon as he's safely home, to keep from damaging the space-time continuum any further.

Marty finds Doc's 1885 tomb--just a few days after writing that letter, Doc dies! Of course Marty goes back to 1855 to save his friend. Biff the Bully's great-great-something-Grandfather is there, still a bully, but much more tolerable than that 2015 yelling moron. Like in the first flick, the supporting cast plays it straight and the humor's kind of there. But this movie just doesn't have the chemistry of the first, even though most of the same actors are in all three flicks. It's good enough to be a "4"...

BUT...this movie also commits an evil that has me knocking 2 more points off its score: the DeLorean is demolished at the end. Even if it's just a movie car, a wrecked replica, I don't care. I'm a Car Guy and DeLoreans are the holiest of holies in my top-ten list of cars. I can watch douchemobiles like BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche being crushed into cubes. Hell, I'd recommend it, since there are plenty of douchemobiles to go around. There aren't many DeLoreans left.

Movie: Long Goodbye, The (1973)

Rating: 1
Year: 1973
Genre: Detective
Watch again? Nope, nope, nope. It's not okay with me.


Scorethefilm and I watched this last night. About the only things it's got in common with Raymond Chandler's original is:

1) Phillip Marlowe is the name of the main character.
2) Marlowe is a detective.
3) Marlowe lives in California.
4) Marlowe drives a 1940's car, convertible.

For this Elliot Gould vehicle, the screenwriter (Liegh Brackett) moved Marlowe to 1973 Los Angeles, put him in what's GOT to be an expensive apartment (across the way from a small army of yoga chicks who walk around topless), gave him a finicky Morris the Cat (apparently the actual cat), and gave him a tag line: "It's okay with me."

Marlowe gives a pal a ride down to Tijuana. Cops are waiting for him when he gets back home, and they take him downtown. He's released after 3 days to find that his pal has killed himself in remorse for murdering his wife.

Phone call. A woman in Malibu wants to hire him--$50 a day plus expenses--to find her boozer husband. He finds hubby--an amateur Hemmingway look-alike, brings him home.

The local mobster shows up at Marlowe's, wants the money Marlowe's dead pal was supposed to take to Mexico City.

Then things fail to get interesting. This flick disappointed at every turn, really. Gould doesn't carry the character well (we were expecting maybe Humphrey Bogart?), and out of the supporting cast only Sterling "Drunk Hubby" Hayden is really on the set and working. Everyone else was phoning it in long-distance.

There were a couple of surprises that livened things up: first, there's a young Arnold Schwarzenneger as a heavy for the mobster; second--and this would be a spoiler if the movie wasn't so bad--Marlowe just shoots his pal after figuring out the guy faked his death.

If you're looking for any Robert Altman magic, go find "M*A*S*H."

Movie: Watchmen (2009)

Rating: 4
Year: 2009
Genre: Fantasy/Superhero
See Again? Yes


Our Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Meetup group watched the new BlueRay release of this film last night.
The "director's cut" is 186 (3:06) minutes long, versus the theater release time of 162 (2:42). The extra 24 minutes gave us a little side-story, but not something I couldn't live without. It made an already long movie feel longer.

The story: it's an alternate 1985. Tricky Dick Nixon is in his third term as President. Masked superheroes have been outlawed. The Watchmen disbanded, retired, and melted into the populace.

One of them--The Comedian--is murdered, thrown from his high-rise apartment. One of his former teammates suits up to find the killer and warn the others: Rorschach, who reminds me of Sam Spade with a white ski mask under his fedora, but with Wolverine's manners.

Casting was mostly good.
I really liked Jackie Earl Haley's "Rorschach"--but I couldn't say whether his "Christian-Bale-As-Batman" voice was done as a nod to Bale's superhero or not. I'll have to see it a few more times. He does get the single coolest line in the entire movie. After being locked up for a murder he didn't commit, he gets into a brief fight with an inmate, then announces to the others: "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you! You're locked up in here with me!"

Patrick Wilson's "Dan/NiteOwl II" was fun. He's the "Batman" of the team--lots of money, lots of wonderful toys, lives alone. No butler. The in-joke with this guy is that his costume includes goggles that give him night-vision and such--but in his mild-mannered persona he has to wear glasses.

Malin Ackerman (Laurie/Silk Spectre II) is the obligatory vinyl-clad hottie heroine, and she pulls this off reasonably well, aside from some clumsy hero-landings and poses. I kept expecting to see a "Clairol" (tm) placement in some of the fight scenes, where her hair flows like something out of a hair-care commercial.

Billy Crudup appears only briefly as John Osterman; the vast majority of screen time is given to his computer-generated heroic ego, Dr. Manhattan, of the glowing blue skin and the glowing blue todger. Thumbs up from three out of three women in the Meetup! A subtle but VERY effective effect with Dr. Manhattan was the interactive lighting when he got near enough to cast light on a person or thing. In a medium where explosions don't cast light or shadows (or interact with their surroundings), this is a neat effect.

On the downside, I wasn't impressed with the age makeup on Carla Gugino's Sally/Silk Spectre (she's Laurie's mother, and handed the name down to her kid). She didn't look as much like an older version of herself as Lea Thompson did in "Back to the Future." Her lower face was puffy-looking--but it could be because this was in BlueRay, which is much less forgiving of weak makeup effects than a regular DVD just because we can see so many little details.

By the same token, the Nixon makeup on Robert Wisden was iffy and fake-looking. They got the nose right, and the overall look was good, but he suffered from the same puffy-face syndrome as Gugino.

I could have done without the "Knotheads" side-story of the extended version. This is a gang of various ethnicities, each with a samurai-style topknot, and they kill the original NiteOwl (Stephen McHattie). This just leads to a fight in a bar where the current NiteOwl (Patrick Wilson) beats the stuffing out of one of the gang members after learning of his mentor's death. Meh.

Still, not that many negatives. I have yet to read any of the original comics or books, so I can't say how closely they're followed, but I liked it.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/