After the first Tron released, it only took 18 years for the world to see a sequel. After Tron Legacy, Disney began working on a threequel, which ended up in a period of development hell until it finally came to us in 2025...
This is Tron Ares.
Starring Jared Leto and Ralph Peters, the final entry in the Tron trilogy, instead of focusing on the Flynn family or the iconic program hero Tron, follows the program known as Ares (played by Jared Leto) as he goes from a soldier of the Dillinger Systems grid to someone learning to be human and fighting for human life. And yes, the Dillinger family, through Ralph Peters' character, is one of the central antagonists of this movie. While the Flynns aren't front and center, Sam Flynn is mentioned as having stepped down from running ENCOM (but he isn't dead) and Kevin Flynn (with Jeff Bridges reprising the role) shows up for a time as Ares explores a version of the original Grid from the 1982 movie.
Tron hasn't been the most successful sci-fi franchise in the world. The first film was a moderate box-office success and didn't compete with other films such as Blade Runner or E.T., and it got mixed reviews from critics at the time, despite becoming a cult-classic as time passed. Tron Legacy made tons of money, but wasn't highly successful and got mixed reviews from critics like the first film did. Tron Ares was a box office bomb and wasn't highly received, but time will tell if a fourth movie will come out.
Despite its reception, Tron Ares is a fun movie full of incredible special effects work and the recreation of the original version of the Grid is impressive, not to mention that Kevin Bridges popping in is a wonderful treat for longtime Tron fans and I do not believe Mr. Leto is a bad actor. The fact that a film that got mixed reception and wasn't highly financially successful in the 1980s got a trilogy is undeniably fantastic, compare that to Blade Runner, released the same year as Tron, which was a box office bomb, but got a sequel in 2017 that ended up being a box-office bomb as well and the world has yet to see a third Blade Runner. Its amazing that we got Tron 3 before Blade Runner 3.
In all honesty, Tron Ares is one of those films deserving a 4.5 stars for its efforts, likely worth a rewatch in the future. Anyone out there wanting to give it a chance? Its on Disney Plus right now and, guess what, Tron Ares became number one on that service for a time. See ya later.
-James M
