Tron (1982)

reviewed by
Walter Frith


'Tron'

A retrospective movie review by Walter Frith

One of the few motion pictures to be filmed in Super Panavision 70 in the last 15 years is the Walt Disney Pictures presentaion of 'Tron'. Usually I am very hard on a film that ignores the academic responsibility it has to quality writng, directing and acting. Some films are exempt from this rule and this is one of them.

I decided to write about this film in particular because every age has its state of the art advancement in special effects. In my generation (and in my opinion) it's been '2001: A Space Odyssey' in 1968, 'Star Wars' in 1977 and 'Tron' in 1982. Of course in the 90's the film that's paved the way for computer visuals is 'Jurassic Park' but that's a story for another time. I am not comparing 'Tron' to '2001' and 'Star Wars' but what I am saying is that it has its place in recognizing important advancements movie audiences sometimes take for granted. It's a film that's become lost and that's a shame because it is worth a look for a whole new generation of movie fans.

I saw it on the big screen when I was younger and its colourized light show and stereo soundtrack blew me away. It's an absolutely dizzying display of a computer user who finds a master computer that isn't exactly user friendly.

Jeff Bridges plays a computer genius who has had some very pioneering ideas in his profession stolen from him and decides to tinker with the master computer storing his discoveries. The master computer sucks him into cyberspace and he is forced to play game after game to win his freedom. The illuminating style of 'Tron' will delight kids and adults will ask the age old question "How did they do that?" This is a Disney production worthy of any viewer because what makes it great in part is that unlike other computer films such as 'Wargames' and 'Sneakers', you don't have to know anything about computers to enjoy it.


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