‘Tron: Legacy’ let down by plodding script

(Cert PG, 120 mins, Sci-Fi/Action/Romance)

Back in the 1980s, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) revolutionised the world with his technology corporation ENCOM.

Then he disappeared without trace, leaving behind a young son. Twenty-five years later, at the behest of old friend Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner), grown-up son Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) visits his father’s rundown arcade where a misfiring laser transports him into the mainframe.

In this world of programs and viruses, Sam is reunited with his father and beautiful protector Quorra (Olivia Wilde), and together they battle again Kevin’s digital doppelganger, Clu (Bridges again), and his army.

‘Tron: Legacy’ is front-loaded with action sequences and video-game addicts will be in their element, immersed in the frenetic action as the camera zooms around computer-generated landscapes.

However, while screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have certainly lavished attention on the graphics, they haven’t invested much programming time in either the plot or the protagonists.

Somehow, they manage to stretch a 10-minute yarn about a son’s search for his errant father into two hours of techno-jiggery pokery.

Bridges channels his inner Lebowski (“Sam, you’re messing with my Zen thing, man!”) as both saviour and villain, while Hedlund is a bland hero, possessing neither charisma nor any palpable screen chemistry with Wilde.

The plodding script is enlivened by the occasional wry one-liner but the heady air of nostalgia wears off quickly.

One version of the Blu-ray includes the 3D version of the film but the format is poorly utilised, especially during the deadly light cycle battle.

Rating: 2/5