Many people know the Tron series is one of Disney’s most popular sci-fi franchises. Though it is weird to say that I never particularly had any nostalgic attachment to it. You look back at the 1982 original, and while it looks dated, you have to remember it was groundbreaking for its effects in a time when the genre was booming. But I was a teenager when 2010’s Tron: Legacy was released, which isn’t one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, but it has slowly grown on me despite its flaws. So, it’s not shocking for Disney to finally make the third installment after 15 years. However, there was not a ton of anticipation from me for Tron: Ares. It looked cool, but it wasn’t a blockbuster to see right away, let alone two weeks after it opened. And I knew this wasn’t going to be the most outstanding movie of the year, but it turns out to be a sequel that absolutely looks stunning and sounds great, piquing my interest despite not being as impressive as other films.

What’s the Story: ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are in a race to bring digital programming into our reality, with Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), grandson of Ed Dillinger, taking over the company from his mother, Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson), and Eve Kim (Greta Lee) as ENCOM’s CEO, wanting to use it to save humanity. There’s only one problem: Material from the Grid can only last 29 minutes before dematerializing. After Eve and her partner, Seth (Arturo Castro), discover the code on an old floppy disk from Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) remote station decades ago, Julian believes they’re close. He brings in Ares (Jared Leto), a Master Control Program who’s the most expendable soldier, and instructs him to find the code to last forever in the real world.

Realistically, anyone paying to see Tron: Ares can expect to be thrilled by its entertainment value. With a budget of $180 million, the film’s visuals are unsurprisingly impressive, especially with the switch from neon blue to red/ crimson that adds to the excitement. Even the fan-service moments to harken back to the first are more engaging than what’s going on in the real world. What surprised me most was learning that the cinematography was by Jeff Cronenweth, who worked on some of David Fincher’s best films. Besides the visuals, there was one smart component of the movie that really had me excited: hearing Nine Inch Nails — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross —provide the music. If there was a band that would make an excellent replacement for what Daft Punk brought to Legacy, it had to be one of the coolest rock bands to come out of the ’90s. Compared to NIN’s and Daft Punk’s soundtracks, Daft Punk’s is better, and the more you listen to it, the more it fits the Tron world—a futuristic, technologically advanced setting that the movie sets in perfectly. “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” has been on repeat since late July, and it’s guaranteed to be one of my most listened to songs of the year. Those who aren’t fans of them might be convinced by their music here. By that, everyone agrees from the marketing alone that the CGI and the music are easily the best compliments this will receive.

The problem with a movie like Tron: Ares is that, while it is technically pleasing to look at on a giant IMAX screen, it doesn’t hide the fact that its plot is boring to follow for two hours. Not that it was going to be a challenge for Joachim Rønning, who has also directed the lackluster Disney sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, since he has an eye for making the action sequences inside the Grid look good, but it just doesn’t feel impactful. It almost starts with a Terminator vibe, with Ares and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) given the directive to track down Eve to obtain the code, and their arrival in our world sounded promising.

Right there, it got interesting. But when its purpose later was to rely on visuals, that makes the “all style, no substance” phrase perfect for summing up Tron: Ares. The story, written by Jesse Wigutow, becomes convoluted and lacks imagination when we’re outside the Grid environment, and it never finds its heart. And when it does, you wouldn’t tell if it landed. It missed the opportunity to make a compelling statement about taking AI control too far beyond our understanding. Not only that, but it needed to expand on the Tron lore for those who aren’t familiar with the franchise, rather than sit through bland dialogue. They mentioned Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn from Legacy a couple of times, but this should’ve been more of a direct continuation of that, rather than focusing on new characters, which left the audience feeling a disconnect. Maybe it would’ve helped if I rewatched the previous films before this, but I didn’t have the time, or thought it wouldn’t matter. Somewhere in here lies a superior movie that could stand beside the last one.

Hearing Jared Leto was going to be the lead, Ares, wasn’t building the movie’s confidence since I’ve grown tired of him for almost a decade now, based on his career choices, and figured he’d be a major problem. But to my surprise, this is perhaps the most subdued performance he’s given that doesn’t have him over the top. The journey we see from Ares is predictable: he begins to understand a new purpose — self-awareness rather than a realistic program — and finds empathy for Eve and her past. It’s a performance from Leto that’s right in the middle, though it would’ve been better if they had allowed him to give Ares an emotional presence. Or at least find another actor to make the protagonist a better lead to convey that charisma. But even if the deadpan humor didn’t make me laugh, like his love for Depeche Mode, I get what they were going for.

But it’s a shame the rest of the characters aren’t memorable or given enough time to make me care. Greta Lee is a great actress, as seen in Past Lives. But she’s playing a secondary lead to Leto, where there’s not much depth to Eve, except for dealing with what happened to her sister. Evan Peters is essentially a one-note tech villain who doesn’t know when to stop causing problems. At the same time, this shouldn’t have wasted Gillian Anderson of all people, when it’s a mother-son dynamic that isn’t showing anything new. And Jeff Bridges is the only returning member from the previous movies to reprise his character, Kevin, because it seems to be one of the few connecting tissues to the others, only to be an extended cameo.

I knew walking in I’d had mixed feelings on this, and I was about right. The nostalgia will be there for some, and they will get the mileage they wanted out of Tron: Ares. For others, it doesn’t have much to say. Tron: Legacy isn’t perfect by any means, but I give credit to Joseph Kroskini for at least bringing some personality to the franchise, making it feel watchable years later. For me, it exists to make another entry. And considering this didn’t perform well during its opening weekend, it’s already labeled a box office bomb, we’re probably not going to see anything soon after what’s set up during the post-credits scene. Chances are, you’re likely going to listen to the soundtrack more than give it a second watch, unless it’s in the background.

Overall, Tron: Ares excels thanks to its amazing visuals and killer soundtrack, but the third installment left more to be desired when it comes to its service-level script and lack of engaging characters, turning this into a forgettable experience that’s probably ten years too late.

Grade: C