If you haven't heard of Tron already, then you certainly aren't a sci-fi geek. To all those who don't know this movie yet, Tron is a 1982 movie about a computer programmer named Kevin Flynn who gets transferred("digitized") into a computer where he must interact with the digital world and take down an evil artificial intelligence. Tron was one of the first movies to use extensive computer graphics and is mainly responsible for the development of CGI as it is today. The movie itself is highly symbolic and there is a focus on the duality of the program world and the real world.
Is it dated? Fair enough, some of the graphics do look a little old, especially the ones used for the MCP(Master Control Program), yet the movie holds up surprisingly well and since the story also takes place in 1982, it's perfectly understandable.
The story is fairly simple and easy to follow: Kevin Flynn, a young programmer/hacker who used to work for ENCOM, created a couple of video games(that he later has to play in the computer) that made ENCOM what it is today. However, fellow programmer Ed Dillinger stole these games and claimed he made them. Henceforth, Dillinger got a promotion and Flynn was fired. Now, Flynn is determined to reclaim his games and breaks into ENCOM to find answers. Before he can, the MCP "digitizes" Flynn to stop him. In the ENCOM mainframe, Flynn teams up with a bunch of programs to stop the MCP.
Even though most of the movie has amazingly good graphics and the characters are all identifiable and likable, there are a few things that annoy me every time I watch this movie: First and above else: the solar sailer simulation(a ship the heroes use to travel). Solar sailer. I want to know, where, oh where oh where is there anything SOLAR in a computer, a digital world?! Solar means the sun, the sun's energy which would clearly imply that the ship runs on the sun's energy. Where is that energy coming from?! And if it's not, why is it called a solar sailer?!
Secondly, some of the costumes are beyond goofy(take a look at Dumont or some of the programs in the town Flynn goes through).
And thirdly, how did Flynn know what was going to happen if he jumped into the MCP? I mean, he might be a User but I thought he was still new to the computer world, how did he have any idea what would happen if he jumped in? What if the MCP had simply become even more powerful, what then?
Fourthly and finally, the movie starts off slow. And I mean, real slow. It takes like half an hour of complete boredom before Flynn finally gets zapped inside the computer world. And then you'll be gripped.
But despite these little irritations, the movie still remains a favourite of mine and many others and a classic. I recommend this movie to absolutely everyone, it is funny, witty, very symbolic and unpredictable and features many little things that computer geeks will recognize(such as the positive/negative Bit).
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