Lede: A neon-glow spectacle that looks great in IMAX, but drops off when you check the wiring under the hood.
Tron: Ares (2005) – Synopsis Roast
In Tron: Ares, Disney plugs back into the Grid hoping nostalgia will carry the current. A digital being named Ares crosses into the real world to “understand humanity” — though most humans watching still can’t understand the plot.
We start with dazzling circuits, glowing bikes, and the promise of a story that will bridge the virtual and physical. Then, halfway through, someone must have pulled the Ethernet cable. The film drifts into corporate boardrooms, philosophy-lite monologues, and an emotional arc so cold it could power a data centre.
The dialogue sounds like it was written by an AI that just discovered empathy yesterday. Lines about “connection” and “purpose” land with the same emotional impact as a patch update. Ares is meant to be the bridge between code and consciousness, but instead feels like an intern who read a TED Talk summary.
Visually, it’s a feast: every pixel polished, every frame ready for an IMAX reel. Yet beneath the glow, the film forgets to run the human subroutine. There’s no pulse, just a screen saver with a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack trying its best to resuscitate it.
Even Jeff Bridges’ legacy from Tron: Legacy feels ghosted — name-checked, not honoured. Characters talk about evolution and transcendence, but the script never evolves past “upload soul, press play.” The real world sequences? As thrilling as waiting for Windows to update.
In the end, Tron: Ares isn’t a journey through the digital frontier; it’s a neon-lit loading screen that never reaches 100%. Beautiful, loud, and emotionally offline.
Verdict: A gorgeous glitch. All spectacle, zero signal.
What does not make sense
- The digital-world rules seem to flip depending on scene — one moment the Grid obeys logic, the next it’s a patchwork.
- An AI soldier crosses into the real world and we’re asked to care as if it’s a fully fledged character — we’re given quantity of visuals, not quality of arc.
- Real-world corporate tech intrigue meets 80-ish neon aesthetics meets grand virtual stakes — it juggles too many modes without really choosing one.
Sense check: The numbers
- Director: Joachim Rønning
- Writers: Jesse Wigutow, Jack Thorne
- Main Cast: Jared Leto (Ares), Greta Lee (Eve), Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Jeff Bridges
- Music: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
- Production: Walt Disney Pictures, produced by Justin Springer, Jeffrey Silver, and Emma Ludbrook
- Runtime: 2h 7m
- Release: 2025, IMAX and Disney+ later this year
- The critic consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says: “A sensory feast of vivid neon hues and a hypnotic soundtrack, Tron: Ares is gorgeous to behold but too narratively programmatic to achieve an authentically human dimension.”
- Many reviews highlight the soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) as a genuine stand-out.
- The visual design and set-pieces receive repeated praise: “spectacularly designed… within an inch of its neon-hued life.”
- On the flip side: Critics say the story “doesn’t really do or say anything new” and the shift from the Grid to the real world loses some of what made the earlier films special.
The sketch (3-panel comic script)
Panel 1 (left): A slick IMAX screen full of glowing light-cycles and digital streams. Caption: “Scene 1 – Wow, look at those lights.”
Panel 2 (centre): The same characters in the real world, messing with corporate servers, standing in boardrooms. Caption: “Scene 2 – Wait, why are we in HR?”
Panel 3 (right): PLOT 1%, viewer amazed. Caption: “Scene 3 – Nice screensaver.”
What to watch, not the show
- The soundtrack: If you watch it for nothing else, the Nine Inch Nails score gives you value.
- The IMAX/3D experience: Many reviewers say it’s worth it in the biggest screen — otherwise it flattens.
- Expectations: Don’t treat it like a deep philosophical sci-fi. It wants to be spectacle first, story second.
The Hermit take
If you’re in it for the light-cycles, the glow-trails and the pure sensory blast, Tron: Ares delivers. But if you came for the story, the stakes or characters you’ll remember — you’ll leave asking “what did I actually just watch?”
This is style over substance. That’s fine — but know what you’re getting.
Keep or toss: Keep the show, toss the drama
- Keep: The visual design, soundtrack ambition, neon-cyber aesthetic.
- Toss: The unbalanced narrative, the undercooked characters, the promise of “more than a thrill-ride” that doesn’t quite land.
Tron: Ares (2005) | Official Trailer
Sources
- Rotten Tomatoes – TRON: Ares: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tron_ares
- Pitchfork – Nine Inch Nails: TRON: Ares Soundtrack: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/nine-inch-nails-tron-ares-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/
- KSL review – TRON: Ares has stunning visuals and pulsing sound, but story falls short: https://www.ksl.com/article/51388279/review-tron-ares-has-stunning-visuals-and-pulsing-sound-but-story-falls-short
- PluggedIn review – TRON: Ares doesn’t really do or say anything new: https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/tron-ares-2025/
- IMDB – Tron: Ares: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6604188/
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