TRON
Tags: fantasy, mystery, allegory, cult, alternate reality, psychedelic, action, comic, revenge, sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
Kevin Flynn is a software engineer, formerly employed by the computer corporation ENCOM(INT) (EN Commercial( International)), who now runs a video arcade called Flynn's. He wrote several video games, but Ed Dillinger, another ENCOM engineer, stole them and passed them off as his own, earning himself a series of promotions until reaching Senior Executive VP. Having left the company, Flynn attempts to obtain evidence of Dillinger's actions by hacking the ENCOM mainframe, but is repeatedly stopped by the Master Control Program - MCP for short - an artificial intelligence written by Dillinger. However, since its inception, the MCP has become power-hungry, illegally appropriating business and even government programs and absorbing them to increase its own capabilities; it informs Dillinger of its plans to subjugate the Pentagon and the Kremlin, and expresses interest in China with its request for Chinese-translation programs, blackmailing Dillinger into compliance with records of his theft of the games.
Flynn's ex-girlfriend Lora Baines and fellow ENCOM engineer Alan Bradley warn Flynn that Dillinger knows about his hacking attempts and has tightened security. Flynn persuades them to sneak him inside ENCOM where he "forges Group 6 access" for the group. He goes to a terminal in Lora's lab to continue searching for evidence of Dillinger's theft. In response, the MCP uses an experimental laser to digitize and download Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe cyberspace called the Grid, where programs are living entities appearing in the likeness of the human "users" who created them.
Flynn quickly learns that the MCP and its second-in-command, Sark, rule over programs and coerce them to renounce their belief in the Users. Those who resist the MCP's tyrannical power over the Grid are forced to play in martial games in which the losers are destroyed. Flynn is forced to fight other programs and meets Tron and Ram between matches. The three escape into the mainframe during a Light Cycle match, but shortly afterwards Flynn and Ram are separated from Tron by an MCP pursuit party composed of tanks based on code Flynn wrote. When Ram is mortally wounded and dies, Flynn learns that as a User he can manipulate energy and matter inside the Grid, effectively allowing him to influence the environment and reality of the realm. He uses his abilities to make a destroyed pursuit ship piece itself together, effectively repairing it. He disguises himself as one of Sark's men with his powers and meets Tron again.
Tron reunites with his love, Yori, and at an input/output junction receives instructions from Alan about how to destroy the MCP. Tron, Flynn and Yori board a "solar sailer simulation" to reach the MCP's core, but Sark's command ship destroys the sailer, capturing Flynn and Yori. Sark leaves the command ship and orders its destruction, but Flynn keeps it intact with his powers while Sark reaches the MCP's core on a shuttle carrying captured programs.
While the MCP attempts to consume the captive programs, Tron confronts Sark and critically damages him, prompting the MCP to transfer its powers to him, thereby transforming him into a giant. Tron attempts to break through the shield protecting the MCP's core while Flynn leaps into the MCP, distracting it long enough to reveal a gap in its shield. Tron throws his disc through the gap and destroys the MCP and Sark, ending the MCP's tyrannical rule.
As programs all over the system begin to communicate with their users, Flynn is sent back to the real world, quickly reconstructed at his terminal. A nearby printer produces the evidence that Dillinger had plagiarized his creations. The next morning, Dillinger enters his office and finds the MCP deactivated, and the proof of his theft publicized. He slumps at his desk, elated that he is no longer at the Master Control Program's mercy, and yet defeated in that he is no longer under its protection either.
Flynn takes his rightful place as ENCOM's new CEO and is greeted by Alan and Lora on his first day.

Review: In short, TRON  like its video game counterpart  is fun.And for that, and a host of other reasons, it will remain on my list of favourite films.End of line..
If it were released into theaters today, "Tron" would be a smash hit, 'cause the movie-audiences of today would understand it a heckuva lot better than the movie-audiences of 1982."Tron" tells the story of a young computer programmer named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who gets sucked INTO a computer, and must fight for his life playing life-or-death video games, run by the evil Master Control Program.
With the aid of a good warrior program named Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), and Tron's significant-other Yori (Cindy Morgan), Flynn must put a stop to the MCP and set things right in the computer world once again before returning to his own world.With breathtakingly beautiful computer-animation (and the very first film to use computer-animation extensively), and presenting an original, dazzling world where energy lives and breathes inside a computer, "Tron" was way ahead of it's time.
Now that time--and people's knowledge of computers--has finally caught up with "Tron," now would be the PERFECT time for the world in general to take another look at this amazing film.Message to Disney: put "Tron" back in theaters!
Much like the design of Maria in Metropolis, the look of Tron is never going to be laughable or quaint.The storyline is lacking a little bit; you can see the ideas the script writers wanted to insert, but there are too many ideas for only 2 hours of film.
Even though CGI had been tried before, Tron took it to the next logical step: creating whole CGI rendered scenes (e.g. tanks, cycles, Recognizers).The film is confusing at times, and 18 years later you can safely say the script wasn't actually the best.
It's like when video games first came out, compared to what they are now.However, a few years ago when the DVD came out with the widescreen and 5.1surround sound, it made it somewhat-respectable again in parts and made it still fun to watch.The story was never that great.
Even more importantly, this strange world Clu and Tron inhabit is equally firmly based on the way computer operating systems work, and that is the reason why Clu (in real live a computer hacker) knows how to handle it.Using this world as the basis for a movie was pretty audacious, especially in 1982.
How in the world Disney green lighted such a good project in the hands of an amateur?I'm dazzled with the positive reviews of the many viewers of this wrecked project quoting that this was an underrated film when the time of its release.
This cult movie deals with a computer genius named Kevin Flynn (a brave young man well played by Jeff Bridges who with his charisma keeps afloat the film ) , a youth once known as the world's leading video-game developer .
As he is sucked inside a powerful computer where he must fight for his life but with the help of the fearless partners and friends (Bruce Boxleiner and Cindy Morgan as Tron and Yori respectively ) embark on a life-or-death journey across a cyber universe , a universe created by Kevin himself that has become far more advanced with vehicles, weapons, digital outdoors and a ruthless villain (a computer generated David Warner) who will stop at nothing to prevent their escape and all sorts of bizarre things begin to happen .This exciting movie is full of thrills , action-packed , fights , tension , suspense and overwhelming races , but also several commercial elements , including computer-simulated violence .
With shots and ideas stolen directly from Star Wars, something must have gone wrong at a fundamental level to make Tron look like Star Wars's ugly cousin.The suspension of disbelief is important for a viewer to have when watching a movie.
He gets zapped into another dimension, which happens to be a video game dimension as he races against time with cyberfriends to battle a evil foe who has controlled the cyber world.A masterpiece of the sci-fi fantasy genre from Disney, this movie has groundbreaking special effects and early CGI for it's time.
The plot is a little complicated but the movie is highly entertaining and the special effects are just spectacular including the famous racing scene.Also recommended: The Running Man, The Matrix Trilogy, Star Wars, The Fifth Element, Total Recall, Blade Runner, The Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn ( Another Bridges 1982 masterpiece).9/10..
They were prophesying a world in which computers took over our day-to-day tasks (see Dr. Gibbs' great soliloquy towards Dillinger), video games became a way of life, and computer animation changed the way movies are made.It's no wonder that the minds behind Tron went on to form Pixar Animation.If Tron is watched by someone remembering that it was made when Gibson's ideas of "cyberspace" were only twinkles in science fiction's collective eyes, and see Tron as a forbearer of movies such as "The Matrix" (thematically) and "Toy Story" (technically), then to discount this film as silly or cheesy sci-fi would be a real shame.Every sci-fi or animation buff should see this movie..
I can't imagine a movie like this would work now that the technology is in no way limiting what can be done with 3D-software.The airbrush work is sleek in the same minimal way as the wire-frame day-glo vector stuff.The black & white human figures complete the totally ageless look of the CG sequences of this film.I think this is one of the most underrated scifi-films of all time, and sincerely believe which will rise in artistic recognition as time passes and these beginning steps of computer graphics are just a page in the history books.This is really an image of a very, very short span of time when computers were entering our world, but still missed a recognized position in people's imagination and everyday life.I didn't know it beforehand and only realized it when the ending credits hit the screen, but visually this was a co-op between Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Syd Mead.
The French band Daft Punk was inspired by the film's electronic score and video game like sound effects, so much so that they even assisted Hans Zimmer in composing the score for Tron's sequel.
Tron still holds up incredibly well 31 years after it's original release and while the effects can be a bit wonky from time to time, they give the movie a certain edge and stylized feel.
When I think of this movie, shades of blue, red, orange and black come to mind, for those are the colors seen frequently throughout the picture and the fact that some of the effects look grainy at times really makes the film's environment look more digitized in my eyes.
Jeff Bridges is great as always, playing the fun loving schmuck Kevin Flynn who "plays video games better than anybody" and Bruce Boxleitner is a gallant Alan Bradley/Tron who is determined to take out the MCP and bring balance back to the cyber world.
And the sound effects really make this film feel like a video game movie.
Every time a character walks, there's this slight "clink" noise and the sound effects for the disk throwing, the light cycles and the character deaths makes me feel like I'm standing right in front of an arcade cabinet playing a game from the golden age.
The visual beauty of the film has never left me and I still can visualise the electronic world as a luminous land of electric sparks and stars.The story line was pretty good and although the well known games of the time were not used I don't think it detracted from the finished product.
This is because the technology is catching up so fast that something that looked realistic a couple of years ago now looks crap.The effects in TRON were of their time, and there is nothing before or since that compares simply because there has never been a movie like it.
Flynn is a user and Tron is a program, and overall I think they wouldn't have won if they didn't work together.The CGI images were pretty good for a movie in the early 80's.
The Master Control Program, has chosen you to write a good or bad review of the movie "Tron".
"So THAT'S what a computer looks like inside!" In 1982, as a small, excited boy viewing Tron at the cinema, I'm sure I uttered these innocently erroneous words to my friend next to me.In fact, even now in 2001, reflecting upon the fantasy world inside the computer network brought to life in Tron, I still believe it has a sheen that lives on undated by today's immense cinema CG effects.
He maintains this all of the way through to the ubiquitous fantasy-style ending, the scale of which satisfies the unwritten requirements set out in fairy tales and folklore of centuries past.Supporting characters Tron (Boxleitner) and Yori (Morgan) ably assist in ushering the movie through a series of action and chase sequences, and it is the differences and similarities between the programs and their real-world counterparts which endears you to them.
Of course, all fantasy stories require a larger-than-life villain, and the brilliant but often-overlooked David Warner terrorizes all other programs as Sark, in key scenes overshadowing the menace of the Master Control Program.Along the way, we are treated to a series of `in-jokes', for example the BIT character causing confusion with its supposed inability to say more than Yes or No. At times, the pace slackens, and in these moments, the romantic interplay between the three real-world characters and their fantasy counterparts is merely hinted at, instead of coming to the fore.
The fact that this film didn't make the big dollars at the box office doesn't mean it wasn't a good concept, it just meant that people who didn't understand this new technological onslaught weren't about to shell out their hard earned money to see it.Yes, it certainly looks dated, but everything looks that way from the point of view of 20 odd years into the future but some of the tech we take for granted today was there - for example, Dillinger's touch screen desk shows some forward thinking in an age of chunky push buttons and knobs.Throughout the film, there seems to be a hidden message about the danger of allowing one all encompassing power to take control of smaller and weaker ones - an unintentional allusion to the dangers of a one world government perhaps.
I recently watched this film again, and I must say that it still looks good.Tron is the story about Kevin Flynn, a young ,hotshot computer programmer who is determined to find the proof the he is the creator of five of the most popular video games from the man who stole them.
When Flynn gets too close, the artificial intelligence super-computer ,MCP, digitizes Flynn into the video game world he created, to fight for his life, all for MCP's amusement.This film may have been for too ahead of it's time in 1982.
A more developed story, substantial dialogues and, yes, a director capable to do their job in a better way than Steven Lisberger, master and commander of this sadly overrated movie.I'm dazzled with the positive reviews of the many viewers of this wrecked project quoting that this was an underrated film when the time of its release.
I was trying not to sleep in many parts of that long race between the characters (something like a car chase scene but instead of cars running chips and programs chasing each other).I'm only watched this movie because I heard that "TRON Legacy" is going to be released this year so I thought "Let's see what this movie has of interesting".
Even now, although admittedly for me I'd go with the Tron Legacy generation of effects, if I put myself in the shoes of someone in the early to mid eighties, this film sweeps one off their feet.There's something otherworldly yet familiar about the world Lisberger propels the viewer into, with programs and the interface with users.
The characters are great, the story is something you can follow enjoyably and the created world is a treat for the eyes, especially the gladitorial combat scenes (give me a light cycle any day).One thing that I have felt from watching Tron Legacy is that it has kept the spirit of Tron, in terms of what the film and the characters strive to achieve, free data movement and uncorrupted access amongst the aims.
For sci-fi and/or computer nerds there would be lots to enjoy, but whilst the special effects are impressive, even more so if you think that they were done on computer which was revolutionary back then, the story feels a little dragged out.It will be interesting to see how the new film Tron: Legacy with it's Daft Punk soundtrack and modern special effects will fare amongst a world of CGI laden films.More of my reviews at my site iheartfilm.weebly.com.
It was a great film to watch as a sci-fi hungry kid.Now, almost twenty years later I decided to buy the special edition dvd which was released last year, mostly because I wanted to see it again, but also to see how well/badly it had aged.I had expected it to be a nostalgic, but unimpressive rewatch - full of bad matte lines and badly animated cgi.
Sure it's cheesy, but I think that's forgivable in films that a) don't take themselves too seriously, and b) actually have a brain.The dialogue is for the most part pretty snappy, which is a welcome relief considering how tempting it must have been to turn it into a melodrama, and the actors manage to say awkward words like "deresolution" without it being too distracting.Of course the metaphor of programs as little people who live inside your computer is stretched beyond what (in 2003) anyone would buy, but you can still sense that the screenwriters actually knew something about computers.
The movie's effects were really impressive for the time and even live up today.The one thing I noticed about the reviews of Tron was that they only seemed to talk about how good the visuals were and didn't talk about anything else.
And, of course, the amazing neon effects and the action going on in the film.I re-watched TRON (1982) as an adult and I like the film even more that I did as a 10 year old kid - strange isn't it.
The special effects were top-of-the-line, cutting edge for 1982 and they still hold up to any modern day effects we see in movies today.TRON (1982) has never been just an ordinary science fiction film - so I do recommend it to fans of sci-fi, computers and gaming.Rated way to low on IMDb - it's a great movie!
There's no doubt that you have to be a bit of geek if not a lot of a geek to love "Tron." At times the production design looks like a cheesy neon laser tag set and the special effects are ancient -- especially more than 25 years later.
It's a one-of-a-kind work of imagination that was decades ahead of its time."Tron" stars a younger Jeff Bridges as Flynn, a former software program developer who wants to get back at the head of his former company, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), who stole some of his computer game programs and used them to get to the top.
this movie was the first movie with a computer in it.It also has various arcade games(mostly at Flynn's arcade,did I see Atari Football?)I know I saw Asteroids Deluxe.my favourite scene in the movie is possibly the lightcycles one.I also like the bit where the recognizer takes of part of the bridge and a tank with it.Ha ha!Took him a long time to get into the computer though.Could have been quicker.I have this movie on Special Edition DVD.
Today, the graphics are outdated, but in their role, depicting the world inside a computer, they are perfectly sufficient.I believe Tron is not for everyone's liking, but as a modern age fantasy, it's a great movie..
Tron may look dated compared to today's standards but it was among the first films to use visual effects and still is the best.
This movie was really ahead of its time and had more influence in the development of the world of films than most people realize.
This movie features groundbreaking special effects for its time, even if the story and characters are a bit bland.
Tron is a 1982 Science Fiction film directed by Steven Lisberger and stars Jeff Bridges, David Warner, and Bruce Boxleitner.
It was distributed by Disney and I consider it my favorite film of all time.Tron follows the story of a "young, bright" game programmer and arcade owner Kevin Flynn (Bridges), whose job is taken away by another employee of ENCOM, Dillinger (Warner).
TRON is ridiculously out of date, but it should be fondly remembered and watched at least once, not for the poor pacing, silly story or horrendous, hammy acting (Boxleitner and Morgan are the real offenders; Bridges and Warner are over the top but are entertaining and effective); but for its visual innovation, which was uniquely monochromatic for its time (early influences on both The Matrix and Sin City, perhaps), and for the fact that it created a computerized world with no CGI whatsoever, making it several years ahead of its time.
Add some great music throughout that fits the mood and style and it's no wonder it has survived the test of time.When Flynn (Jeff Bridges) emerges from the computer near the end of the movie, we feel like we've been to another world and back, and I really enjoy "Tron" for bringing us through that journey.
The digital world in this film basically looks like a video game from around the time this was made, with graphics which are fairly simple but still pleasing to the eye.