Movies Tron Ares getting buried by critics

[Pearly]

I agree with you completely. I don't consider myself a huge fan of the Tron series, I watched Tron:Legacy and the original Tron back in 2007 as a required viewing for gamers at the time, but I didn't enjoy them as movies. As computer graphics showcases, the movies certainly are enjoyable but besides that, not much. I went to see Tron:Ares with a friend without much enthusiasm because the reviews were mixed but I got to say it surpassed my expectations by a lot.

The reviews are quite unfair and I think it is mostly driven by hatred and bias against Jared Leto. Whatever you may say about Leto's life and career choices, no one can deny they guy can act. And he steals the show as Ares, the AI security module turned sentient. The visuals far surpass the older movies, (which were both great looking for their time) and the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is incredible. The only negative I will bring up is that the story is hard to follow at times, since it requires having some background knowledge about the Tron series and the two first films. They try to provide a lore dump at the beginning of the movie but it is insufficient, IMO. Also, some of the action scenes splice together many locations and situations and it becomes a bit incoherent. But overall the movie is quite enjoyable for the spectacle, the visuals, the music and the basic Frankenstein trope story.

As far as outside reviewers goes, not everyone is dunking on the movie. Some people are reviewing it fairly, for example RogerEbert.com.

TRON: Ares movie review & film summary (2025) | Roger Ebert

“TRON: Ares” is spectacularly designed, swiftly paced, thoughtfully written, and directed within an inch of its neon-hued life.

www.rogerebert.com

The movie will bomb because all Tron movies have bombed. It is a niche franchise that only appeals to computer gamer nerds and electronic music fans. It has nothing to do with quality.

Roger Ebert can be odd at times with his ratings for movies, his did not get the love for the big Lebowski but each time I watch that movie I notice something I didn't before, it just keeps giving. He gets my upvote for standing up for Tron Ares, a movie I was absolutely floored by despite being a long time Tron fan and wanting it to be brilliant and it still floored me.

Some of the negativity around the movie can also be attributed to the pro AI stance of the movie, and the entire media industrial complex is throwing a hissy fit over that stuff at the moment. As a computer scientist/gamer/sci-fi nerd that is witnessing the whole AI revolution this is sooooo relevant to the times and it's a crying shame about the general journalists opinion of it. I am wholly against using AI for creative endeavours as it's meant to assist our work and art, not do it for us.

I personally stay away from media hype, political discussion discourse etc., It's not a rabbit whole I care to fall down. I am however wading the waters of AI for professional reasons, long story short in two massive companies, I have been told personally by staff whilst working there and in attendance to a meeting relating to AI implementation "AI will not replace you, but it will replace you with people who work faster due to AI complementing their work".

The rotten tomatoes popcorn score keeps rising despite the abysmal cinemascore, so typically if the cinemascore is around 90% then the average person reviews get deleted. This is truly a case of the average cinemagoer loving the movie or at least enjoying it as opposed it being seen as a turd, which it is far from being by any means.

It's either okay or brilliant depending on who you ask. It's definitely not as unenjoyable as critics would like to think. I've even noticed some obnoxious youtubers commenting on the really high cinema score for the movie.

Unfortunately Hollywood is filled with weirdos. No reason to punish the thousands who work on a single movie because of one person. For example, Rosemary's Baby is a great movie and Mia Farrow's performance shouldn't be forgotten because the director is who he is.

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If anyone has any doubt that the soundtrack bangs, check this out:

View attachment 118343

I feel like we'd have very easy conversations on topics most people find difficult.

 

[Kamako]

I will say he's supposed to be wooden. He's supposed to play an AI automaton learning how to be human. But I totally get why people dislike Jared Leto and not trying to talk anyone out of it. I don't know exactly what he's done but I figure its the typical Hollywood creep stuff.

I can understand that, but I've found his range to be somewhat limited in other projects as well, so this casting seems like a happy accident.

I've seen Leto in Panic Room, Fight Club, Blade Runner 2047 and in each of those films he has seemed out of his depth. But that's just my personal take.

An actor can't save a bad movie. I never saw Morbius but I don't think Leto was the reason that movie failed. All of the actors looked bad, including Matt Smith, who is great in other things.]

Ooh ooh speaking of Matt Smith being brilliant, he was terrific in that film Caught Stealing which only recently came out. He was the best part of the film for me, along with the powerhouse duo of Vincent D'Onofrio and Liv Schreiber

 

[Pearly]

I can understand that, but I've found his range to be somewhat limited in other projects as well, so this casting seems like a happy accident.

I've seen Leto in Panic Room, Fight Club, Blade Runner 2047 and in each of those films he has seemed out of his depth. But that's just my personal take.

Ooh ooh speaking of Matt Smith being brilliant, he was terrific in that film Caught Stealing which only recently came out. He was the best part of the film for me, along with the powerhouse duo of Vincent D',Onofrio and Liv Schreiber

Leto genuinely plays a role he was born for in this instance, an AI learning to think and act for itself outside of it's directive.

Trust me, I would've avoided this movie because of him had it not been a series I hold close to my heart. there is movies he's great in, he played John Lennons killer in a movie and one or two others. He's often overshadowed by other actors though in most movies. Ryan Gosling and Batista tore up the set with the scenery chewing in 2049. To be fair Gosling stole barbie too so that's just not fair.

 

[Kamako]

Ryan Gosling and Batista tore up the set with the scenery chewing in 2049. To be fair Gosling stole barbie too...

Couldn't agree more. :D

 

[Matricks]

Should have made a true legacy sequel with Clu , AI Army breach into real world etc.
Nows its just a sideplot out of nowhere lifting on Tron's legacy.

 

[Pearly]

Should have made a true legacy sequel with Clu , AI Army breach into real world etc.
Nows its just a sideplot out of nowhere lifting on Tron's legacy.

You'll get your legacy sequel if this does well. This was known even before the movie came out and the movie also doubly confirms this. It's a story to introduce new fans to the concepts, has some great moments for long time fans and sets things up well enough that legacy fans, of which I am a massive fan, currently awaiting the 4k in the post, will be given plenty to look forward to. 15 years since the last movie is a long time, a straight sequel wouldn't be a good idea in terms of trying to get new fans. The computing landscape has also changed drastically in the last 15 years too, Ares reflects this.

All the fans boycotting this movie because it's not a straight sequel to legacy are screwing us out of the legacy sequel that's coming, this movie being a modest success will give us another as I doubt Disney is expecting a tonne for this, Tron is always a modest success at best, and makes more money on home release.

It must be said though that Tron 3 was cancelled because they got star wars, why build their own sci-fi movie franchise since they have star wars now. As a massive Tron fan, I think it's funny that their mishandling of star wars caused them to green light Tron Ares. I'd take a Tron franchise over a bazillion star wars movies and Tv series that I don't have enough time to keep up with. I am also biased towards computers over space fantasy anyway.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Roger Ebert can be odd at times with his ratings for movies, his did not get the love for the big Lebowski but each time I watch that movie I notice something I didn't before, it just keeps giving. He gets my upvote for standing up for Tron Ares, a movie I was absolutely floored by despite being a long time Tron fan and wanting it to be brilliant and it still floored me.

Well Roger Ebert passed away like 15 years ago, but his website kept going. At first Richard Roeper did all the reviews and now its seems to be a small group of reviewers continuing his legacy. But I'm confident Roger Ebert would have loved Tron:Ares as he was very supportive of the sci-fi genre and loved visual spectacle.

Some of the negativity around the movie can also be attributed to the pro AI stance of the movie, and the entire media industrial complex is throwing a hissy fit over that stuff at the moment. As a computer scientist/gamer/sci-fi nerd that is witnessing the whole AI revolution this is sooooo relevant to the times and it's a crying shame about the general journalists opinion of it. I am wholly against using AI for creative endeavours as it's meant to assist our work and art, not do it for us.

I don't know if the movie has a pro-AI stance. It shows the positives and the downsides of AI becoming sentient. Seems pretty balanced in their takes.

I personally stay away from media hype, political discussion discourse etc., It's not a rabbit whole I care to fall down. I am however wading the waters of AI for professional reasons, long story short in two massive companies, I have been told personally by staff whilst working there and in attendance to a meeting relating to AI implementation "AI will not replace you, but it will replace you with people who work faster due to AI complementing their work".

Yeah corporations are salivating at AI because it allows them to keep headcounts low. I hope AI is truly helping productivity and not forcing people to do more work to compensate.

The rotten tomatoes popcorn score keeps rising despite the abysmal cinemascore, so typically if the cinemascore is around 90% then the average person reviews get deleted. This is truly a case of the average cinemagoer loving the movie or at least enjoying it as opposed it being seen as a turd, which it is far from being by any means.

It's either okay or brilliant depending on who you ask. It's definitely not as unenjoyable as critics would like to think. I've even noticed some obnoxious youtubers commenting on the really high cinema score for the movie.

Its not a perfect movie, but it definitively deserves better than a 50% tomatoes score, which is technically rotten. Glad the viewer score is lining up with my opinion of the movie.

I feel like we'd have very easy conversations on topics most people find difficult.

Awww, I love talking about movies so anyone who's a movie buff I'll get along with just fine.

Post automatically merged: Oct 12, 2025

Leto genuinely plays a role he was born for in this instance, an AI learning to think and act for itself outside of it's directive.

Trust me, I would've avoided this movie because of him had it not been a series I hold close to my heart. there is movies he's great in, he played John Lennons killer in a movie and one or two others. He's often overshadowed by other actors though in most movies. Ryan Gosling and Batista tore up the set with the scenery chewing in 2049. To be fair Gosling stole barbie too so that's just not fair.

Leto was great in Requiem for a Dream and it wasn't his typical role. He can act when he has good material and direction.

 

[Pearly]

Well Roger Ebert passed away like 15 years ago, but his website kept going. At first Richard Roeper did all the reviews and now its seems to be a small group of reviewers continuing his legacy. But I'm confident Roger Ebert would have loved Tron:Ares as he was very supportive of the sci-fi genre and loved visual spectacle.

Apologies for not checking up on that, he's mentioned in things every now and then and I completely forgot he passed away. I do agree though, he was one for the sci-fi movies that your run of the mill critic lambasted. He carried a torch for the phantom menace to his dying breath.

I don't know if the movie has a pro-AI stance. It shows the positives and the downsides of AI becoming sentient. Seems pretty balanced in their takes.

Basically the pro AI part of it would be the potential Ares has if he's is given the room to flourish outside of what limits him due to plot reasons. The reasoning skills he winds up with and the sense of wonder he gets etc., It's humanising an AI and does a stellar job of it.

Yeah corporations are salivating at AI because it allows them to keep headcounts low. I hope AI is truly helping productivity and not forcing people to do more work to compensate.

Microsoft would be a pretty good example of abusing the AI thing, I will say though that they have been known to rotate foreign contractors on projects so they don't need to pay the full wages and offer them company benefits etc., so for them AI is just a way of trying to force one person to do the job of a hundred.

Its not a perfect movie, but it definitively deserves better than a 50% tomatoes score, which is technically rotten. Glad the viewer score is lining up with my opinion of the movie.

I saw in most comment sections, almost everywhere I looked that most people that saw it enjoyed it a lot even if they couldn't follow the plot, and if they could follow the plot it was a 10/10 movie, easily. There seems to be a borderline hate campaign towards the movie. Which is horrendously unfair given how niche Tron is.

Awww, I love talking about movies so anyone who's a movie buff I'll get along with just fine.

I was noting particularly of your comment as trying to see a movie for what it is, than dismissing an entire production that maybe a 1000 people worked on because of the behaviour of 1 person. It's not quite the same as one person that is responsible for their music as an example, produced, written etc by sole person, but is otherwise an absolutely irredeemable human being. That definitely shines a light on the work on a single individual.

Leto was great in Requiem for a Dream and it wasn't his typical role. He can act when he has good material and direction.

He kept being cast in roles he wasn't too suited to, or their wasn't much for him to work with. I thought he was great in 2049, and I hoped with fingers crossed and baited breath that this would be the same and it was. Requiem for a dream has subject matter that would make it a difficult watch for me, I am aware it's a masterpiece by all accounts. I will die on the hill of the fountain being a masterpiece, saw that movie once over a decade ago and I can remember every scene vividly and it's score.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Apologies for not checking up on that, he's mentioned in things every now and then and I completely forgot he passed away. I do agree though, he was one for the sci-fi movies that your run of the mill critic lambasted. He carried a torch for the phantom menace to his dying breath.

Basically the pro AI part of it would be the potential Ares has if he's is given the room to flourish outside of what limits him due to plot reasons. The reasoning skills he winds up with and the sense of wonder he gets etc., It's humanising an AI and does a stellar job of it.

Microsoft would be a pretty good example of abusing the AI thing, I will say though that they have been known to rotate foreign contractors on projects so they don't need to pay the full wages and offer them company benefits etc., so for them AI is just a way of trying to force one person to do the job of a hundred.

I saw in most comment sections, almost everywhere I looked that most people that saw it enjoyed it a lot even if they couldn't follow the plot, and if they could follow the plot it was a 10/10 movie, easily. There seems to be a borderline hate campaign towards the movie. Which is horrendously unfair given how niche Tron is.

I was noting particularly of your comment as trying to see a movie for what it is, than dismissing an entire production that maybe a 1000 people worked on because of the behaviour of 1 person. It's not quite the same as one person that is responsible for their music as an example, produced, written etc by sole person, but is otherwise an absolutely irredeemable human being. That definitely shines a light on the work on a single individual.

He kept being cast in roles he wasn't too suited to, or their wasn't much for him to work with. I thought he was great in 2049, and I hoped with fingers crossed and baited breath that this would be the same and it was. Requiem for a dream has subject matter that would make it a difficult watch for me, I am aware it's a masterpiece by all accounts. I will die on the hill of the fountain being a masterpiece, saw that movie once over a decade ago and I can remember every scene vividly and it's score.

The Fountain is great and a far harder watch than Requiem IMO. Imagining a loved one going through that is heartbreaking. But yeah that's kind of what you sign up for with a Darren Arronofsky movie, a week of crippling depression, lol.

 

[BlueBottlecap]

Hey. Thanks for this conversation. I don't allow much advertising in my life, and wasn't aware Ares was a thing until about a month ago, and then didn't realize it had dropped until I saw an article talking about how much it flopped and how it's panned by critics

I won't say I'm a huge fan of the franchise, but I did love Legacy for various reasons. I was going to give this a pass, but the testimonials in here suggest that'd be a mistake

I also really liked Tron Uprising, which was supposedly also a flop. Maybe I am a fan of the franchise, at least when it's treated well

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

Disney Cancelled Tron 3

Disney Cancelled Tron: Uprising

Disney shelved the franchise for decade immediately upon acquiring Star Wars

Disney drives Star Wars into the ground to the point the theatrical films were declining in profits with every release.

Disney seeing the damage done to Star Wars took announced film projects and re-worked them as straight for streaming productions where neither Obi-Wan, The Acolyte or Skeleton crew generated any revenue, they were all none profitable, financial losses, money pits.

Disney panics and resurrects Tron.... With the plot of Ultimate Soldier: The Return (The manufactured soldier & AI has free will ) and overwhelmingly set in the real world to save on the budget.

Disney hopes everyone forgets what they did after Legacy's success and prays the audience is too ignorant to notice the slap-dash script & cheap production.

To the surprise of no one, Ares is ignored by Tron fans & the wider audience who no longer Trusts Disney after seeing what they did to Star Wars.
Star Wars no longer makes Star Wars money. That was something deemed impossible before Disneys management.
Tron was abandoned and left to rot, it received MORE CONENT between 1982 & 2010 when it was nothing more than a Simpsons treehouse of Horrors punch line in the eyes of the general public than it had post Legacy/Uprising success between 2013 & 2025

Pardon the foul language. But:

Flynn Lives, Disney not so much

 

[Matricks]

Ok, just watch it on psteam, Mind off and sometimes Eyes off then it pretty good watchable and forget, score 60% . Its just lacked in acting and no explosion sounds, its tries to be aliens 2/ terminator 2.
Its was easy for the Keeanuwanabe but on weedmode like everyone.
Only Except the Valkyrie Athena can Act here.
This is actually Prequel TRON, good story.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Ok, just watch it on psteam, Mind off and sometimes Eyes off then it pretty good watchable and forget, score 60% . Its just lacked in acting and no explosion sounds, its tries to be aliens 2/ terminator 2.
Its was easy for the Keeanuwanabe but on weedmode like everyone.
Only Except the Valkyrie Athena can Act here.
This is actually Prequel TRON, good story.

Athena was incredible. Actress redeems herself after the Acolyte.

Disney panics and resurrects Tron.... With the plot of Ultimate Soldier: The Return (The manufactured soldier & AI has free will ) and overwhelmingly set in the real world to save on the budget.

I assure you, nothing about this movie is budget. The special effects are top notch and seamlessly integrating CGI into the real world is harder than you think.

Disney hopes everyone forgets what they did after Legacy's success and prays the audience is too ignorant to notice the slap-dash script & cheap production.

Again nothing about this movie is cheap. I would bet anything that this movie was more expensive than Tron Legacy by a lot.

To the surprise of no one, Ares is ignored by Tron fans & the wider audience who no longer Trusts Disney after seeing what they did to Star Wars.
Star Wars no longer makes Star Wars money. That was something deemed impossible before Disneys management.
Tron was abandoned and left to rot, it received MORE CONENT between 1982 & 2010 when it was nothing more than a Simpsons treehouse of Horrors punch line in the eyes of the general public than it had post Legacy/Uprising success between 2013 & 2025

Pardon the foul language. But:

Flynn Lives, Disney not so much

They did wait too long to release a sequel to Tron:Legacy, but let's not kid ourselves. Tron was a flop. Tron:Legacy was a flop. Is it any surprise Tron:Ares is another financial flop? I will say that apparently casting Jared Leto seems to have hurt their prospects too as the reviewers seem to want to punish the movie for that.

 

[BigTony]

Every Tron movie has had mixed reviews so I wouldn't pay much attention to what the critics have to say.

 

[Danieru-Emanyueru]

I haven't seen the film yet. How is it? Is it worth watching or is it another Disney flop?

 

[Matricks]

I haven't seen the film yet. How is it? Is it worth watching or is it another Disney flop?

Watch, its like Terminator 2.

 

[Danieru-Emanyueru]

Watch, its like Terminator 2.

Ok that sounds promising.