Tron

Being a bit of a movie buff, it’s always nice to watch a movie, let alone as part of a class period.  Having never seen it before, it was also a chance to expand upon my vast movie trivia knowledge, as well as sense of anything that likely went over my head in Tron: Legacy.

It is always great to see the “this is what the future could be!” types of movies, and right from the beginning you could see that’s exactly what Tron was.  At a time when computers were far too large and complex for the household, it takes a sci-fi look at what the hell a computer even is, or could be.  We are whisked through a crazy adventure in which the movement of data appears to us in the form of intense battles and attempts to conquer the world even outside of cyberspace.  This movie is also likely one of the first in a long (and still continuing) trend of films that ask, “what if computers get too smart?”

For anyone who has not see the original Tron, here is an extremely brief rundown of some key scenes, just to get the gist.  However, if you haven’t seen this movie, I suggest you watch it instead and come back.

Not only was this a great film for its time, but it still has an undeniably great plot if you look past the cgi (computer-generated images) of old, which often look cheesy in the high-definition scrutiny we place movies under today.  However, you really cannot deny how sick this looks.

This movie is also great for the purposes of this class.  As we talked about before, this was really one of the first times we see a real demonstration of transmedia storytelling.  With the game being released at the same time as the film, we get immersed in this very real universe of Tron.  We get to play the same games we see in the film, see for ourselves what the characters have to go through and try our own hand at each of them.  It brings the film to life for us.

On a personal note, this has to be one of the better movies I have seen in a while.  People tend to forget that “amazing graphics” can never compensate for a great story and the ability to immerse the fans in an experience.