Tron: Legacy/Tron: The Original Classic (US - BD)
Gabe enters the Grid for a double dose of frisby throwing and lightcycling action.
Tron
Computer engineer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) makes it his life goal to prove software conglomerate ENCOM senior executive Ed Dillinger (David Warner) stole his software, and used it to rise to power within the company. Flynn’s hacking attempts fail thanks to an impressive mainframe protector named Master Control Program, or MCP (also Warner). Flynn has two friends working for the company, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan), who agree to help him attack MCP from the inside. Just when it looks like things are finally going his way, MCP uses an experimental laser system to scan Flynn, digitize him, and drop him into the mainframe. Inside the system, Flynn is forced by Commander Sark (also Warner) to play games for MCP’s enjoyment. Here Flynn meets Alan’s security program Tron (also Boxleitner), Yori (also Morgan), and Ram (Dan Shor), and escapes into the system.

Tron is one of those films I respect much more than I actually like. I respect it for being miles ahead of its time in terms of technology, and even more for its narrative choices, which confused the living hell out of everyone that watched it in 1982. The major support behind the film is usually in reference to its technical achievements, but the rather abstract and daring narrative aspects are occasionally more impressive. The ‘users equal gods’ subtext, and the (then) foreign concept of in-computer ‘avatars’ both delve into Philip K. Dickian levels of sophisticated science fiction, that was mostly ignored by mainstream movie theaters at the time. Even simple discussion concerning the internet, programs and computer memory was over a decade above the original audience’s head, setting Tron way ahead of the curve. The enduring problem with the film isn’t a lack of ideas, rather it’s quite the opposite. Tron swims in a listless ocean of ideas, without the appropriate level of distillation. There’s enough plot, but it’s either awkwardly stated (as in the real world), or spread thin over a thin layer of feature length runtime. The characters are chock full of potential, but they aren’t given a chance to develop between set pieces (good performances aside). More tragically the pacing stretches and snaps to the point of exhaustion, making it hard to believe the experience isn’t longer than the manageable 96 minute runtime.
Another often overlooked aspect of the film is the cinematography, which features almost rigidly restrained camera movement, and repeating frame-ups between the real world and the computer world. This is usually due to the restraints of the compositing technology, but the filmmakers make the confines work to their advantage. The stark look of the computer world (which I don’t remember them ever calling ‘The Grid’ until the second film) is reminiscent of the bleak environments of Lucas’ THX 1138, which also is likely due to technical limitations, but again, the look appears intended, and is generally the most memorable thing about the entire film. THX 1138 and Tron are also pretty notorious monetary flops that have managed to endure thanks to their artistic merit and intelligent ideas. THX’s failure was soon forgotten following the massive popularity of American Graffiti and Star Wars, but Tron took longer to really catch on, which explains the nearly three decade span between the original film and its first sequel. 1982 ended up a notorious year for science fiction flops that would go on to huge critical acclaim and cult followings, specifically Tron, Blade Runner, and The Thing. For decades everyone blamed Steven Spielberg and E.T., but the more likely answer was these darker, more experimental films were just outside Regan era comfort zones.

Tron Legacy
Following the events of the original Tron Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) continued entering ‘The Grid’ in an effort to make cyberspace a better place. But one day Flynn disappears, leaving his son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) an orphan, and majority shareholder. Twenty years later Flynn’s best friend, and Sam’s surrogate father Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) receives a mysterious page pointing him toward Flynn’s long closed arcade. Alan convinces Sam to investigate, and soon the son of Flynn finds himself transported into the system, where he finds the Grid is under the rule of a program that looks just like his father.
There were few films I was looking forward to more in 2010 than Tron: Legacy. I would often go on rants about how I was never going to pay to see another 3D movie again, only to amend the statement with a ‘except for Tron: Legacy’. The teaser trailer (released well before actual production had commenced) was action-packed, gorgeously designed, and delectably confusing (how are there two Jeff Bridges’?!?). The build-up to the release started with a lot more design work, and talk of scientific society involvement, but there wasn’t a lot of discussion concerning the film’s plot. At first it appeared that the plot was a big secret, but later news verified that within months of release that the production was going to the folks at Pixar for assistance in pulling their screenplay together. Those of us that read the news entered theaters knowing that the storyline was going to be a bit iffy, but I doubt many expected such a mess of meandering threads, underdeveloped themes, and tired exposition.
Some of the story based failure can be placed on the fact that Disney was aiming for a Pirates of the Caribbean-like franchise. The filmmakers are clearly spreading some breadcrumbs here, which would’ve lead to a likely more satisfying series of films that equaled a greater whole. Obvious examples include an early scene featuring Cillian Murphy as a seemingly incidental character (the son of the original film’s human villain), or plot elements totted as important, specifically the ‘Isos’ being dumped almost as soon as their mentioned. This disc’s extra features fill in a few more possible future details. There’s also a distinct possibility of last minute structural reconstruction (the Pixar story seems to add some credence to this theory), and there may be a better, longer story sitting on a cutting room floor somewhere. This, of course, doesn’t excuse the whole film, which almost never finds a satisfying character, narrative thread or even set-piece climax (I find myself especially disappointed by the wet noodle revel of the title character’s new identity, or his pathetic final fate). Jeff Bridges manages to garner sympathy via sheer force of his persona, and overall I’d say the characters are relatively strong (though clearly having an entire film’s worth of back story and good actors help), but no one is able to save the film through charm. Legacy is similar to J.J. Abrams’ equally plot-starved Star Trek, but fails to successfully fight through its narrative issues with as much dignity. In the end Star Trek manages to be a good movie, where Legacy does not.

But it’s not a wash. This is a clear case of style over substance, and readers that know my taste know that if the style is strong enough, I’m more than willing to excuse a lack of substance. I can’t in good conscience characterize Legacy in an utter failure while praising the visual grandeur of other narrative deficient films like the Star Wars prequels, Blade Runner, or the myriad of Italian horror flicks I review for Blue Underground every month. Legacy is a triumph of graphic design, and does an incredible job building on the original film’s already triumphant style. The visuals are so perfect they actually feel familiar, as if they’ve always been a part of the pop-culture zeitgeist. It wasn’t until I watched these films back to back that I really realized how much the Legacy team had redefined the first film’s designs. The instant classic status may have something to do with how much of the imagery was drilled into consumer minds prior to the films release, in the forms of varying media like Marvel comics and sports magazines (I can’t recall which one). The nearly monochromatic, vector art look also makes for a novel 3D experience, the first since Avatar turned the process into a ‘viable’ part of the filmmaking landscape.
Video
Tron looks great, way better than it has since its initial release (I assume, as I was only a couple of years old at the time). This HD release, in the preferred 2.20:1 framing, is a clear upgrade over the 20th Anniversary DVD release, though not what I’d call a reference level transfer. Surprisingly enough, it’s the real world scenes that are the most stunning in 1080p. The original negative has clearly been scrubbed of all but the most unavoidable film grain and a couple of fuzzy wide shots. The sequences in Flynn’s arcade are positively teeming with colours, battling contrast levels, and needle fine details. The entirely computer generated images are also much sharper, but inconsistent in terms of cleanliness. People are going to be most disappointed with the heavy grain levels over the composite shots, and many of the CG animations, but having just watched the DVD I can assure you that this is an improvement in both frequency and size of grain. I’m not going to pretend I understand the specifics of the technical processes (the composite work was a frame-by-frame technique based around 70mm black and white footage), and I never saw the film on the big screen, but it’s plenty obvious that this is just the way the footage looks. One of the less ideal side effects of the increased detail is their effect on some of the less impressive visual effects, especially those that touch the real world sequences. Look at the scene where Boxleitner leaves his desk towards the beginning of the film, and a matte painting of dozens of cubicles shifts before he finally exits frame. These ‘short comings’ just sort of come with the property, and fans should probably be used to this stuff by now.

Tron: Legacy is more or less the picture of perfection. The image quality is impeccable, sharp as a Ginsu blade, and as vibrant as a laser beam to the face. Legacy doesn’t share the same wide ranging palette as the original film, but it makes up for variety in frequency and clarity. Most of the scenes within the Grid are practically monochromatic, or at the very least duo-chromatic (blue equals good, orange equals bad). The limited hues are solid and consistent enough to makes the slightly varying shades pop. For example, Clu is more yellow than the rest of the bad guys, but it’s so subtle that the variation is almost subconscious. The included DVD copy is still plenty colourful, but the minor differentiations are difficult to notice in 480p. Stark contrast levels basically define the entire look, even when it comes to the difference between facial textures and the sharp and super-simple graphic design of the Grid. This, unfortunately, does not extend to the uncanny valley, artificially de-aged Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner faces, which look extra strange when presented this cleanly. Lines are an important element, as are the distinguishing characteristics of negative and positive space, which thanks to the utter sharpness are almost grotesquely flawless.
The collection I’m reviewing does come with the 3D version of the film as well, but I’m afraid I don’t have the capabilities to watch it. The aspect ratio of this 2D version fluctuates a few times between 2.35:1 and an IMAX friendly 1.78:1, just like the Dark Knight disc did. There’s warning of this when you hit the play button.

Audio
Tron’s DTS-HD Master Audio sounds similar to the 20th Anniversary DVD release in terms of surround redesign, but the uncompressed nature of the track shows pretty large improvements in volume levels and general clarity. Major highlights include Clu senior’s derezzing, the whizzy disc war sequence, and anything featuring lightcycles. The lightcycles especially are a continuing source of surround enhancement, immersive directional effects, and pretty heavy bass. The LFE gets a pretty consistent workout from the abstract rumble of computer spaceship ‘engines’, and the overall dynamic range is quite wide. The only real negative aspect of the track is the somewhat inconsistent dialogue. Clarity isn’t really an issue, but volume levels are all over the place, and occasionally so low they’re almost indecipherable, even when other elements are threatening to blow out the stereo and surround speakers.
I’m a little surprised that Tron: Legacy didn’t win the best sound mixing and/or editing. The whole film is awash with aural stimulation, from real world scenes featuring revving motorcycles and Journey songs, to the buzzing games and Daft Punk of the Grid. The games in the new film are levels above the original’s in terms of pure sound design, often due to the integration of more stereotypical video game noises into the mix. Lightcycles now make the sound of a real motorcycle, 8-bit video game cycle, and a synthesizer all at once. The same effect is placed on some of the vocal performances as well, and even cooler yet, some of these ‘robotic’ vocals bleed into the stereo and surround channels (I’m a sucker for big, echoing voices). Legacy not winning sound mixing/editing was a surprise, but Daft Punk not even being nominated for best original score was a travesty. And by ‘travesty’ I of course mean that I was a fan, and like most fans I assume everyone should like the same things I like. Full disclosure: I adore Daft Punk. They single handedly (double handedly?) turned me around on techno music during my punk rock phase, and their involvement with Legacy definitely upped my interest level. Admittedly sections of the score sounds a little Batman Begins-ish, but the themes are so beautifully entwined with the rest of the soundscape, not to mention infectious, so I find myself more than willing to forgive a dash of unoriginality.

Extras
The new Tron extras begin with a new audio commentary featuring writer/director Steven Lisberger, producer Donald Kushner, associate producer and visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, and visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor. The track is informative and features plenty of factoids that don’t overlap with the already impressive behind the scenes footage, but the focus is very technical and the tone is pretty dull. There are jokes made at the film’s expense and some fun anecdotes, but the bulk of the track is a bit of a choir. ‘The Tron Phenomenon’ (9:50, HD), a featurette featuring the cast and crew of the new film discussing their memories of the original, along with some more basic behind the scenes information that doesn’t match the making-of documentary included on the original special edition DVD. Some of Syd Mead’s concept art is new, but mostly this is rerun info. The new stuff ends with ‘Photo Tronology’ (15:40, HD) which follows Tron director Steven Lisberger and his son to the original Disney archives. The guys look through a series of production photos and discuss the process. The coolest fact I learned: Lisberger reveals that he chose to work with Moebius because of Heavy Metal magazine, and (more importantly to me) the artist’s work with enigmatic Mexican film genius Alejandro Jorodowsky (though I’m pretty sure Moebius didn’t actually work on either El Topo or The Holy Mountain).
Under ‘Original DVD Features’ is the already impressive extras that were found on the 20th Anniversary release. These start with ‘The Making of Tron’ (1:28:30, SD) – a fantastic retrospective documentary which mostly focuses on the film’s technical achievements, but basically covers the entire story of the film’s production. This doc is among my personal favourites in DVD extra history, and reason enough to have purchased the original anniversary edition release. All the major players are interviewed, and everything from developing the technology, putting together the production team, casting, filming, post-production, and release is covered. These are augmented with behind the scenes photos, and clips from the team’s early animation tests. The ‘Development’ banner features EPK and production snippets including ‘Early Development’ (3:00, SD), ‘Early Lisberger Studios Animation’ (:30, SD), ‘Computers are People Too’ (4:20, SD) and ‘Early Video Tests’ (:30, SD). The ‘Digital Imagery’ banner features ‘Backlight Animation’ (1:40, SD), ‘Digital Imagery in Tron’ with Richard Taylor (3:40, SD), ‘Beyond Tron’ MAGI TV segment (4:00, SD), ‘Role of Triple I’ (:30, SD) and ‘Triple I Demo’ (2:20, SD). The ‘Music’ header features ‘Lightcycle Scene with Alternate Carlos Music Tracks’ (2:50, SD) and ‘End Credits with Original Carlos Music’ (5:20, SD). The collection also features three deleted/alternate scenes with director intro, a ‘Nato Reel’, WIP reel, four trailers, storyboard explorations, and several image galleries. The only way this stuff could be better would be an HD upgrade, but I’m sure the interview footage wasn’t shot for that kind of quality.

Tron Legacy starts with another Disney Second Screen option, which is toted to include stuff like storyboards, conceptual art and effects breakdowns. I couldn’t get it to work with my crummy laptop, and it didn’t appear to have gone live yet anyway at the time of this review, so I wasn’t able to give it a look.
Extras continue with ‘The Next Day’ short (HD), which was originally toted as an elongated teaser for the next sequel, but following Legacy’s less than stellar box office returns, it now appears to be a mini-sequel itself. It’s a lot of fun, and actually adds a lot of plot filler on what happened between the films. More set up for the next film can be found if various codes are typed into the ‘high score’ screen (the codes are all on screen so you don’t have to guess), including a ‘Space Paranoids’ commercial. Or you can be lazy, and type in ‘ALL’ for the whole collection. I also tried ‘CLU’ and ‘ROM’ to no effect. I still think Legacy was a rather weak film, but these clips do awaken hope for a future sequel. ‘Launching the Legacy’ (10:20, HD) is a reasonably informative behind the scenes EPK that skips over most of the project’s false starts, but does include the early test footage, building a screenplay and look, and the ‘real science’ (ah hahaha!). ‘Visualizing Tron’ (11:50, HD) covers the films all-important production design, which actually involves more set building than you’d probably think. ‘Installing the Cast’ (12:00, HD) kind of speaks for itself, and involves the casting process. ‘Disc Roars’(3:00, HD) fills out this section with a look at the recording of the Comic-Con crowd for the crowd noises during the disc wars fight.
The more ad-like extras include ‘First Look at Tron: Uprising The Disney XD Animated Series’ teaser trailer (1:20, HD), a ‘Derezzed’ Daft Punk music video (2:30, HD), and Disney 3D Blu-ray and Movies on the Go ads.

Overall
One flawed but important piece of film history, and a disappointing but utterly gorgeous belated sequel. Neither is a must own by my personal barometer, but fans of the series should be happy with the result. The original film looks and sounds as good as it ever will outside of Disney taking the George Lucas route and recreating all the special effects, and the extra features are exhaustive. Tron: Legacy is a reference level disc (and I’m guessing the 3D version meets those expectations as well), but the extras are a disappointment, even if they fill in some important back story. The film wasn’t that popular, so a double dip seems doubtful at this point, but there simply has to be more behind the scenes footage, and at least one deleted scene.
* Note: The images below are taken from the Blu-ray release and resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking individual images, but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer.
Review by Gabriel Powers
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Existing Posts
With those limited extras it almost feels like a new release of this may be around the corner.
Loved the soundtrack of the new one.
Loved the soundtrack of the new one.
Chris, who is the girl in your signature picture ?
iconoclast wrote: Could you please do a screen grab of TRON's scene in Legacy? That would be amazing!
Not sure which scene you're referring to specifically, but I took some caps that might interest you.
I took these the quick and dirty way, so the resolution is a bit off and they are a bit compressed, but they should give you a decent representation.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/204/utotalme...
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/204/utotalme...
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/204/utotalme...
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4718/utotalm...
Not sure which scene you're referring to specifically, but I took some caps that might interest you.
I took these the quick and dirty way, so the resolution is a bit off and they are a bit compressed, but they should give you a decent representation.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/204/utotalme...
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/204/utotalme...
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/204/utotalme...
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4718/utotalm...
what a dts track. disapointed about the lack of features, namely one for Daft Punk. at least a 5.1 track or something. best use of orchestra and synth since "Total Recall". loved it. and it had woodwinds, which Zimmer and Co. are afraid of apparantly.
great looking movie and great dts track. movie itself could have been better but what do I know. dts makes it a keeper.
great looking movie and great dts track. movie itself could have been better but what do I know. dts makes it a keeper.
Could you please do a screen grab of TRON's scene in Legacy? That would be amazing!
I just read an interesting piece of news. Disney is in fact going ahead with another Tron sequel. Apparently this on the grounds that Joe Kosinski with Tron Legacy($399 globaly) is now the most profitable first time director above JJ Abrams(Star Trek $386). Although I do question the artical since they use Star Trek Abrams second film he directed and yes I know that was probably due to higher 3D prices, but I don't care. I say bring it on.
Personally, I think that is awesome because I loved Tron Tegacy. Was it perfect? NO. But did it need to be? No. It looked beautiful and it successfully entertained for 2 hours. I have been waiting my whole life(born in 82) for a sequel to Tron and I was very happy with what I got and really hope and can't wait to see where they take the series in future movies.
Personally, I think that is awesome because I loved Tron Tegacy. Was it perfect? NO. But did it need to be? No. It looked beautiful and it successfully entertained for 2 hours. I have been waiting my whole life(born in 82) for a sequel to Tron and I was very happy with what I got and really hope and can't wait to see where they take the series in future movies.
Thanks Chris. Beautiful choices. Hoga: looks like we replied at the exact same moment, thanks for the backup.
I can take caps, so I've added some.
Plant: I put a note at the end of the review that these aren't from the Blu-ray. I don't have the ability to take Blu-ray caps, and don't own the original on DVD, so I just took some random stuff from the trailer.
yesiamaplant wrote: Uhh...shots of the original? I mean, I'm not expecting it to be great shakes, but I'd like an idea of what it looks like.
He doesn't have screen capture capabilities. If you look carefully at the bottom right corner, the screenshots in this review are from the apple HD trailer. As far as I know, there isn't an HD trailer online for the original.
Here are some screen caps if you want to get an idea: Please don't link to this site, they have stolen stuff from us the past.
He doesn't have screen capture capabilities. If you look carefully at the bottom right corner, the screenshots in this review are from the apple HD trailer. As far as I know, there isn't an HD trailer online for the original.
Here are some screen caps if you want to get an idea: Please don't link to this site, they have stolen stuff from us the past.
I think the story of the sequel flowed better where the first half of the original just bored me. I like the sequel better and hope they do a TRON 3. I was pleased with the Flynn Lives material.
Getting off topic for a moment, I'm a huge Blade Runner fan and the film is all about details (and making you think about the things you see and the elements of the story- the movie spawned a book of essays on it and the novel it was loosely based on).
Getting off topic for a moment, I'm a huge Blade Runner fan and the film is all about details (and making you think about the things you see and the elements of the story- the movie spawned a book of essays on it and the novel it was loosely based on).
Uhh...shots of the original? I mean, I'm not expecting it to be great shakes, but I'd like an idea of what it looks like.
I missed the whole introduction of the Tron character. I was expecting that he would show up and was expecting some de-aged Bruce Boxleitner footage, perhaps teaming up with Flynn or Sam. When Tron finally did make an appearance, I thought (and may have said) "Whaaaat? That's Tron?" It seemed just so 'throw away' how he was re-introduced and used as part of the story.
It could be me of course, not paying attention, but I was probably faffing about raising and lowering the 3D glasses at the time, realising that a great many of the shots had no 3D effect applied to them. This is my main gripe with 3D. I spend more time concerned with what I should be seeing as a 3D effect (and wondering if it is having any impact on film at all) rather than engaging with the story and characters.
Looking forward to seeing Tron on BD, as I keep reading good things about the transfer, and looking forward to watching Legacy properly (on BD) without the 3D distraction.
It could be me of course, not paying attention, but I was probably faffing about raising and lowering the 3D glasses at the time, realising that a great many of the shots had no 3D effect applied to them. This is my main gripe with 3D. I spend more time concerned with what I should be seeing as a 3D effect (and wondering if it is having any impact on film at all) rather than engaging with the story and characters.
Looking forward to seeing Tron on BD, as I keep reading good things about the transfer, and looking forward to watching Legacy properly (on BD) without the 3D distraction.
No, it's ok. It sounded harsher than I meant it to. I just hadn't realized how much Tron and Blade Runner had in common until I started writing this, and thought it was interesting that Blade Runner still succeeds on almost every level, while Tron is just generally boring.
I should probably note down here for the readers that actually discuss things with me that Tron: Legacy actually killed my sound system a few times. I'm thinking it's time to update, and would like to know if anyone else gets an information overload from the disc.
I should probably note down here for the readers that actually discuss things with me that Tron: Legacy actually killed my sound system a few times. I'm thinking it's time to update, and would like to know if anyone else gets an information overload from the disc.
I was thinking of picking up this edition, but in all honesty, I really don't care for seeing the original. I saw the trailer, and the film looks so outdated that rather taking the film seriously, one can't help but to laugh. Now I'm all for old movies, shoot most of my favorite movies are outdated and a few decades old, but shoot "Tron" has the worst kind of outdated. It literally looks like a cartoon.
I enjoyed "Tron: Legacy" heavily because the look is very realistic, maybe a bit TOO impressive. And overall, it was just a blast. The IMAX scenes were GORGEOUS, the 3D popped, and the action scenes it had were some of the best I've seen in a long time. I snagged the 4-disc edition of Tron: Legacy for $24.99 at my local BB, but with the coupon it was about $23. That's not too bad. And I picked up the Target edition of "Black Swan" too :D
I enjoyed "Tron: Legacy" heavily because the look is very realistic, maybe a bit TOO impressive. And overall, it was just a blast. The IMAX scenes were GORGEOUS, the 3D popped, and the action scenes it had were some of the best I've seen in a long time. I snagged the 4-disc edition of Tron: Legacy for $24.99 at my local BB, but with the coupon it was about $23. That's not too bad. And I picked up the Target edition of "Black Swan" too :D
Sorry. Did not mean for this to turn into a Blade Runner discussion.
It's not my best work, but here's my Blade Runner review: http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/blade-runn...
I believe that's what the man said.
Blade Runner has a deficient narrative?
I tried to blag a copy of this set but they didn't have any. Apparently they're sending the sequel, but it was the original that I was interesting in seeing again for the restoration.
Both of us have pre-ordered the Tron & Tron: Legacy box-set as it was so damned cheap, but we just look upon it has buying it for the first film, and getting the second one as an extra.
Tron: Legacy is the Paris Hilton of movies; there are those who might be entranced by some of the asthetic trappings, but inside it is completely empty. Oh, and don't get us started on the embarassing appearance by Michael Sheen.
We watched it together at one or our local fleapits and the specifics of the expression of discontent that one of us gave about two-thirds of the way through is not something to be discussed in such a delicate, sensitive place such as this...
The Wilson Bros
Tron: Legacy is the Paris Hilton of movies; there are those who might be entranced by some of the asthetic trappings, but inside it is completely empty. Oh, and don't get us started on the embarassing appearance by Michael Sheen.
We watched it together at one or our local fleapits and the specifics of the expression of discontent that one of us gave about two-thirds of the way through is not something to be discussed in such a delicate, sensitive place such as this...

The Wilson Bros
The narrative isn't very lucid, but I've never viewed that as a deficiency. It can be interpreted on many different levels, and that has always made it more rich and interesting to me. Plus, I just have a knee-jerk reaction to anything that sounds negative about Blade Runner. I don't think you meant for it to be as negative as my initial interpretation though.
Come on hoga, I LOVE Blade Runner, but it's always had issues with its plot. That's why its so easy to continuously recut. It's much more about the images, the characters and the subtext than the proper narrative.
Matt wrote: It might be cool and all, but what's wrong with just providing a PiP track with that material? Like some other Blu-ray gimmicks, just because you can do something with the technology doesn't mean you should or try to fix something that wasn't broken in the first place. Providing it in this manner means that A) a lot of people are not going be able to take of advantage of it and B) many folks simply won't want to jump through hoops to get to it.
Agreed. I watch my blu-rays on my PC and I have a dual monitors, so my setup is pretty ideal for this sort of thing. But, apparently you need the Disney Magic Rewards code that comes with the blu-ray insert in order to fully unlock the feature. I am one of the people who immediately trashes those things, so I will have to do without it. But that also means people who rent it won't get the full benefits of the special feature even if they do have the technology. Weak plan on Disney's part.
Agreed. I watch my blu-rays on my PC and I have a dual monitors, so my setup is pretty ideal for this sort of thing. But, apparently you need the Disney Magic Rewards code that comes with the blu-ray insert in order to fully unlock the feature. I am one of the people who immediately trashes those things, so I will have to do without it. But that also means people who rent it won't get the full benefits of the special feature even if they do have the technology. Weak plan on Disney's part.
I've never been a big fan of Tron--in fact I absolutely hated it as a kid--but I thoroughly enjoyed Tron: Legacy as a good popcorn flick that was a few special moments away from being great.
I haven't checked it out yet, but it seems as though the substantial making-of material is part of Legacy's 'Second Screen' extra. It might be cool and all, but what's wrong with just providing a PiP track with that material? Like some other Blu-ray gimmicks, just because you can do something with the technology doesn't mean you should or try to fix something that wasn't broken in the first place. Providing it in this manner means that A) a lot of people are not going be able to take of advantage of it and B) many folks simply won't want to jump through hoops to get to it.
I haven't checked it out yet, but it seems as though the substantial making-of material is part of Legacy's 'Second Screen' extra. It might be cool and all, but what's wrong with just providing a PiP track with that material? Like some other Blu-ray gimmicks, just because you can do something with the technology doesn't mean you should or try to fix something that wasn't broken in the first place. Providing it in this manner means that A) a lot of people are not going be able to take of advantage of it and B) many folks simply won't want to jump through hoops to get to it.
Blade Runner has a deficient narrative? It would probably be healthy if I just ignored that. You could definitely argue it for the original theatrical cut with tacked on narration though.
I enjoyed Tron Legacy on a very superficial level. I always thought the original was silly, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of character, plot, or plausibility. Its just a treat for the senses. But it would've been nice if it didn't try so hard to have characters and plot, and just spent more time giving us dazzling visuals (and less CGI young Bridges).
I enjoyed Tron Legacy on a very superficial level. I always thought the original was silly, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of character, plot, or plausibility. Its just a treat for the senses. But it would've been nice if it didn't try so hard to have characters and plot, and just spent more time giving us dazzling visuals (and less CGI young Bridges).


Some material may not be suitable for children
Disc Details
Release Date:
5th April 2011
Discs:
5
Disc Type:
Blu-ray Disc
RCE:
No
Video:
1080p
Aspect:
Various
Anamorphic:
No
Colour:
Yes
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 French and Spanish
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras:
The Next Day: Flynn Lived, Disney Second Screen, First Look at Tron: Uprising, Music Video, Launching the Legacy, Disc Roars, Visualizing Tron, Installing the Cast, The Tron Phenomenon, The Making of Tron, Audio Commentary, Development, Music, Deleted/Alternate Scenes, Trailers, Image Galleries, DVD Copy, Digital Copy, 3D and 2D Versions
Easter Egg:
No
Feature Details
Director:
Joseph Kosinski, Steven Lisberger
Cast:
Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen
Genre:
Action, Adventure and Sci-Fi
Length:
221 minutes
Ratings
Amazon.com
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