Tron: Legacy brings zen to computing.

First off let me say that for a movie whose first trailer came before its script this movie was still pretty freaking sweet. That is not to say that it is Shakespeare or even Alan Moore but its pretty great for what it is. So what is it? It's the 3D wizard of oz. Literally. The movie starts out in 2d and only goes to 3d when they get to the computer world. I had no idea that is how they would handle it but in retrospect it was a pretty cool idea. Their are references to the original movie aplenty and yes, we do find out what happens to Tron himself. He actually appears all over the movie although most of the time he is masked. We do get a pretty sweet flashback scene in which we see a de-aged Bruce Boxleitner do battle with the CGI Jeff Bridges that is Clu. The movies villain. Clu is a great villain in the tradition of Darth Vader and Sinestro. The villain who sees himself as the champion of order and because of that eradicates freedom. He even goes so far as to commit a genocide against the Isos. A new breed of program that spring spontaneously from the grid. They are the fulcrum of this story. Artificial Intelligence born from the system itself. Not created by the users. Kevin Flynn, the creator of the grid, sees them as its ultimate evolutionary end. Jeff Bridges brings some Dudeariffic zen to this role that was not in the original movie but I am cool with that. I can even forgive his over use of the exclamation, "Man!"  Clu, Flynn's creation also played by Bridges but digitally de-aged, sees the Isos as a corruption. Something to be cleansed from the grid. The story's protagonist is Sam Flynn. Kevin's son who has been left without a father while his has been imprisoned inside his own creation. We learn of this computer generated world thorough Sam's eyes as he is forced into many of the same scenarios his father faced twenty years ago. Tron: Legacy is original enough to stand on its own although it does owe a lot not only to its predecessor but also to The Matrix movies. Much of the style of this movie was borrowed from there. The story kept me guessing and although the ending was mildly disappointing in a few ways I am still really glad they made this movie. It builds wonderfully on my childhood memories. It does not just exploit them as a way to separate me from my fourteen bucks. Take note Mr. Bay.