TheBoyEllis Blog

Jeff Bridges. The real one, without the strange CGI lips.

Heavy breather? Sinus problems? Perhaps he had a bad cold.

Nope, he was asleep.

Like me, the guy to my right had ventured to the cinema alone. We were kindred spirits. I was off work, trying to fill my last day away from the grindstone with something a little different. Maybe he was doing the same. Or perhaps he truly was a loner.

Regardless, he’d spent over £7 on a cinema ticket only to fall asleep.

Perhaps it was the film. Tron Legacy is, after all, a bit like watching an attractive screensaver for two hours.

As explained yesterday, I went to see it almost solely off the back of Daft Punk writing the score. This was a silly idea.

The problem is, the film’s soundtrack could only have been put together by Daft Punk. It was made for them. Not using the duo would have rendered the entire project pointless. Their fusion of synths and real strings was absolute perfection. But why is that a problem?

It fit too well, to the point where it was almost non existent. It wove itself so tightly into what is a technically impressive, yet dull film, that it simply became part of the shiny, pretty backdrop. That in itself is an achievement, but one I wasn’t really expecting. I was expecting it to make the film, being a long-time fan of the French masters of low pass filtering and having waited so long for their return.

Their cameo was amusing, if a little contrived, but even that did little to dampen my disappointment. All I was left with was a plot so narrow and unexplored that it sent my fellow singleton into the land of nod.

Worse still was the CGI sculpted head of the young Jeff Bridges, in this instance playing the baddie (I’ve already forgotten his name). Quite how a film costing in excess of £200m was unable to make it resemble anything other than a poorly operated glove puppet is beyond me. Sooty is more menacing.

Moans aside, it has to be said that it’s a stunning film to look at. Special effects rarely impress me these days, at least not like they used to. There’s rarely a Jurassic Park moment in today’s expensive blockbusters and while Tron Legacy isn’t quite on a par with that in terms of unique wonderment, it is rather pretty. The 3D is also nicely judged, adding a real depth to the film while not at all distracting.

Verdict? Wait for the DVD, but go and buy the soundtrack now; its better without the film.