Tron: Legacy/Tron: The Original Classic Five-Disc Combo (Disney)
Let’s be realistic: Tron was not nearly as influential or epic as everyone is making it out to be. The original was an experimental, somewhat-goofy cult film whose legend has grown out of proportion. Tron: Legacy (see S+V's extended coverage of the release) is a muddled mess, with some decent effects that quickly grow tiresome. As a two-minute teaser, it’s eye-blasting. As a feature film, it’s spirit crushing. Still, Disney goes big with this impressive five-disc set sure to make die-hard fans of the franchise squeal with delight. Picking up 27 years after the original, programming whiz Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is trapped in cyberspace, and his now-grown son enters the blue and neon world (the look of the film is mostly glorified wireframes, as opposed to a vibrant Matrix-like universe) to get him back. Or so we think. The story is so convoluted it literally makes no tangible sense. Bridges does his best to keep things together, but his digitized younger self, a program named CLU, is just too creepy to be believed. All the blame falls solely on the script, and on first-time director Joseph Kosinski, a former architect who clearly focused too much on the setting instead of the story or characters. It’s unfortunate because the massive budget could have been used to create something the original couldn’t provide in 1982. On the upside, this exhaustive set also includes the original, which hasn’t even been widely available on DVD for the past few years, and looks great on Blu-ray. The new one looks sharp and clean, which makes it much more valuable as a screensaver than a movie.
Video: Tron: Legacy 3D and Blu-ray 1080p 2.35:1, Original Tron 1080p 2.20:1; Audio: Tron: Legacy 7.1 DTS-HD MA, Original Tron 5.1 DTS-HD MA; Special Features, Disc 1: Blu-ray 3D version of the film; Disc 2: Blu-ray version of the film, “The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed” interactive bonus piece, Tron: Disney Second Screen which allows you to use your iPad or computer while you watch the movie to access interactive elements; Special Features: First Look at Tron: Uprising, the Disney XD animated series, “Visualizing Tron,” “Installing The Cast,” “Launching the Legacy,” “Disc Roars” ADR recording at Comic-Con, Daft Punk music video "Derezzed"; Disc 3: DVD copy of Tron Legacy, First look at “Tron: Uprising,” “Visualizing Tron,” “Installing the Cast”; Disc 4: Digital copy of Tron: Legacy; Disc 5: The original Tron on Blu-ray, new documentary “The Tron Phenomenon” and “Photo Tronology”; previously released materials include: Commentary with director Steven Lisberger, producer Donald Kushner, associate producer and visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw and visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor, “The Making of Tron,” a ton of featurettes broken in sections (Development, Digital Imagery, Music, Publicity, Design) deleted scenes, Syd Mead discusses Light Cycle design, Magi animation tests, Light Cycle-based featurettes, Recognizer designs, Space Paranoids video game, storyboarding, galleries.
Geoffrey Morrison walks you through all of the extra goodness here.
