A computer hacker is abducted into a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.A computer hacker is abducted into a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.A computer hacker is abducted into a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 2 wins & 8 nominations total
- Peter
- (as Tony Stephano)
- …
- Warrior #2
- (as Vince Deadrick)
- Factory Guard
- (as Dave Cass)
Summary
Featured reviews
The film underperformed on its release and did better as a crossover arcade game. The light cycle sequence certainly helped. 1982 was the year that home computing was taking off in the UK with the BBC computer, Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 entering households in greater numbers. TRON was riding on that wave, even its film score was acclaimed.
The story is simple although it has to be noted Jeff Bridges is not Tron. Bridges is Kevin Flynn a programmer who has been cheated by a rival Dillinger (David Warner.) He has taken credit for Flynn's work such as the best selling arcade games and taken control of the Hi Tech company Encom.
Flynn breaks into the Master Control Program (MCP) which has gained its own AI and become a super computer. It takes Flynn inside a computer world in order to delete him.
Flynn is helped out by Tron a legendary warrior in this computer world and he also looks like Flynn's friend Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner). They along with others seek to destroy the MCP and get rid of Dillinger.
Critics at the time were not impressed by the story. They were by the film's graphical content. It's cutting edge for the time with the representation of a Matrix style world.
The use of synthesised music has made the film endure leading to a belated sequel almost 30 years later.
Jeff Bridges as Flynn is basically a scruffy Jesus figure who descends into the world of computer programs immaculately to find that his sort is worshipped as gods by the programs. He also finds that he has powers considered miraculous by programs, such as to heal, resurrect and divert the beam of a lightship (the video game equivalent of walking on water?).
Bruce Boxleitner, meanwhile, is a champion in the programs' Roman-style gladiatorial games, and though he lacks Spartacus' army, he compensates with Moses' heroic religious fervor and sense of rightness. As Moses went up the mountain, spoke with a burning bush, and returned with tablets inscribed with law, Tron goes into the Input/Output Tower, communicates with his User through a beam of light, and returns with his identity disc imprinted with the code necessary to defeat the Master Control Program.
And said MCP? The spirit of conquest and tyranny that informed the cultures of Rome and Egypt, with David Warner's Sark character a blend of Pharoah and Crassus.
As a teenager, I didn't appreciate the allegory, but now I have new respect for this film which many fans tend to dismiss. Science fiction used to try to be about something, but these days they've devolved to being ultra-violent, CGI-choked retreads. True, there's a cheese quality to it, but that's part of the fun. And I think I prefer a nice block of cheese with some character to it than the processed glop squeezing out of Hollywood's tube currently.
This first sentence should make you think that "Tron" is a cult movie. Well, maybe it is. My parents abhor it. My sister detests it. But my friends, who were born in the early 70s (very early, actually) and me see it as an amazing piece of work.
Is it stunning? Yes, even though more than half of the film is colorized b&w. Is it computer animated? Yes, although I am betting your home PC might be able to render the images you will see there without any problem. Maybe not in real time, but almost. Is it special? You bet. 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. On the light of the Internet, though, it all makes a lot more sense, and it plainly demonstrates that the writers really loved computers. In fact, they were so ahead of their times that I am betting too many people who saw it the first time didn't understand it. That was its failure: only computer geeks could get the whole picture (no pun intended).
Still, I guess Toy Story I and II are the direct development of Tron. And that cannot be bad in any way.
"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. This may explain why the film was greeted with incomprehension from critics and audience members alike back in 1982.
The problem was, back in 1982, there was no such thing as the Internet, and, apart from business types, most people didn't really know diddlysquat about computers yet. As a result, the computer jargon heard throughout "Tron" went sailing over most audience members' heads, and for many, the story was difficult to follow. Critics complained that "Tron" was all special effects and no story. And, for the final insult, "Tron" wasn't even NOMINATED for Best Visual Effects at Oscar time, presumably because the Academy in 1982 didn't recognize computer-animation as "genuine" visual effects, i.e. "it's animation, not visual effects," they thought to themselves. "The Abyss" changed all that in 1989, but that was a big seven years after "Tron." Obviously, everyone in 1982 had missed the film's point.
But the passing of time has been very kind to "Tron." Today, the film has a major cult following, and is recognized by many as the landmark sci-fi film that it truly is. Looking at "Tron" today, the movie has aged very well indeed, like a fine wine. 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! Clean it up with a new remastered print & remastered sound, and let the world rediscover this sci-fi classic. It WILL be a smash hit! In 1982, people just didn't understand "Tron." Today, they will. Trust me. :-)
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was disqualified from receiving an Academy Award nomination for special effects, because the Academy felt at the time that using computer generated effects was "cheating".
- GoofsWhen Ram and Flynn are back in their cells Ram is doing tricks with his identity disk. The close-up of Ram's hands show he has no gloves on. When they cut to a wide shot Ram has gloves on.
- Quotes
Alan Bradley: [about the digitizing laser] Great. Can it send me to Hawaii?
Lora: Yep, but you gotta purchase your program 30 days in advance. How's it going upstairs?
Alan Bradley: Frustrating. I had Tron almost ready, when Dillinger cut everyone with Group-7 access out of the system. I tell you ever since he got that Master Control Program, the system's got more bugs than a bait store.
Dr. Walter Gibbs: [laughs] You've got to expect some static. After all, computers are just machines; they can't think.
Alan Bradley: Some programs will be thinking soon.
Dr. Walter Gibbs: Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop.
- Crazy creditsA section of the end credits is in Traditonal Chinese. They are the names of the individuals who worked on the movie from the company based in Taipei Taiwan.
- Alternate versionsThe light cycle sequence originally had background music. This alternate scene is present on the special laserdisc edition.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Making of 'Tron' (2002)
- SoundtracksOnly Solutions
Written and Performed by Journey
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Tron: The Original Classic
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $17,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $33,000,000
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,761,795
- Jul 11, 1982
- Gross worldwide
- $33,002,371
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
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