When I was a very, very young man (back in ancient times known as Ye Olde Eighties) I had a bunch of movies I was really, really looking forward to: Conan the Barbarian, E.T, Poltergeist and of course First Blood. But the king of all these outstanding childhood memorablia, was Tron. A sci-fi movie which blew the minds of sci-fi fans - it portrayed a dangerous virtual world of fatal gladiatorial games and super fast light bikes and deadly freebies. The plot was simple: world famous games designer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) gets sucked into the virtual world of computer games by evil AI chess game programme, where he is assisted by his programme Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) to survive.
What they movie did was provide citizens of the 80s the idea of a digital realm which by today's understanding means the Internet. It had everything any self-respecting sci-fi movie must have: evil AI, loyalty, friendship, an alternative universe, kick-ass action and the wonders of special effects. It made Bruce Boxleitner an action hero (for roughly 4.37 seconds) and it reintroduced Jeff Bridges back to the screen in a whole new light - as the world's first virtual reality ass-kicker predating Keanu Reeve's Neo in the Matrix by 17 years. That was Tron. But sadly it was overlooked as the pivotal point in sci-fi film. Until now. 28 years later.
The Skinny: In this sequel, the son of Flyn, Sam gets a coded message from his dad Kevin who had mysteriously disappeared for the best part of his 27 years. As it turns out, Kevin Flynn never left the Tron universe and now exists on an alternate place which in reality is an unused arcade game in an abandoned warehouse. This world is essentially a server, which had never ventured into the internet, but had been steadily populating, and growing over the years. Now it is up to son Sam to rescue dad Kevin, and escape the evil overlord who does not want them to leave. At any cost.
The Helmer: Joseph Kosinski - first timer
The Casts: Jeff Bridges (Kevin Flynn), Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn), Olivia Wilde (Quorra), Bruce Boxleitner (Alan Bradley), James Frain (Jarvis), Yaya Dacosta (Siren)
The Prediction: This is Disney's BIG one for 2010, on two levels: riding on the 3D tsunami wave, and entering into the fast-rising popularity in sci-fi movies, something which they haven't dabbled in for a long, long time. The last one being the 1979 Black Hole. Tron has its fanbase and so expectation is high. Disney promises special effects for this movie the likes of which has not been seen before. So its the combination of expectation meeting new technology meeting commercial interest in making back big money in a big way. So yeah, this looks good. Very very good.
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