action, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Hasan Minhaj, Jared Leto, Jeff Bridges, Joachim Ronning, Jodie Turner-Smith, movies, Nine Inch Nails, reviews, sci-fi, science fiction, Selene Yun, Tron, Tron: Ares
September 7, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Joachim Rønning
Culture Representation: Taking place in the mid-2020s, in unnamed locations in the United States and in other parts of the world, the sci-fi action film “Tron: Ares” (the third movie in the “Tron” movie series) features a racially diverse cast of characters (white, black, Asian and Latin) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An artificial intelligence (A.I.) Program, designed by am American tech company to be a human-looking “super soldier” with “master control,” is sent to find a life-extending “permanence code” and kill a rival company’s CEO, who is also looking for the same code.
Culture Audience: “Tron: Ares” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Tron” series and sci-fi sequels that are inferior to their predecessors.
“Tron: Ares” has high-quality visual effects but low-quality dialogue in a “Terminator” franchise ripoff story. The cast members are caught in the middle. Jeff Bridges shows up for five minutes in a sci-fi robe and acts like The Dude from “The Big Lebowski.”
Directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jesse Wigutow, “Tron: Ares” is the third in the “Tron” movie series that began with 1982’s “Tron” and continued with 2010’s “Tron: Legacy.” Bridges (who has the role of Kevin Flynn, the long-lost former CEO of an American tech company named ENCOM International) is the only principal cast member who’s been in all three movies. Even though Bridges is one of headliners of “Tron: Ares,” his role in the movie is just a glorified cameo.
“Tron: Ares” follows a formula that’s familiar to anyone who knows about “The Terminator” franchise: A “super soldier” invention is programmed to find and kill a target, but then develops a mind and decision process of its own. This plot detail was already given away in trailers for “Tron: Ares,” which is low on suspense and high on cringeworthy moments.
In “Tron: Ares” (which was filmed primarily in the Canadian province of British Columbia), the story takes place in an alternate version of the mid-2020s. It’s a world where artificial intelligence super soldiers look fully human but operate like machines. Years ago, as depicted in “Tron,” Kevin invented The Grid as a virtual world for experimental research and simulations.
“Tron: Ares” begins with an exposition dump explaining that Kevin Flynn is still missing, his son Sam Flynn (introduced in “Tron: Legacy”) has left as the controlling shareholder of ENCOM International for “personal reasons,” and ENCOM’s current CEO is Eve Kim (played by Greta Lee), who is supposed to be a brilliant computer programmer and video game developer. (Garrett Hedlund, who had the role of Sam Flynn in “Tron: Legacy,” is not in “Tron: Ares.”)
Eve’s younger sister Tess (played by Selene Yun), ENCOM’s chief programming developer, is seen communicating with Eve in video phone calls. They have a very close relationship, but Tess is never actually seen physically in the same room as Eve. The movie eventually reveals why. The reason is not as surprising as “Tron: Ares” wants it to be.
ENCOM’s biggest corporate rival is Dillinger Systems, which is branching out into security and military products and services. Dillinger Systems was founded by Edward Dillinger Sr. (played by David Warner), who was a senior executive at ENCOM, was the chief villain in 1982’s “Tron,” and is now deceased. His son was Edward Dillinger Jr., a former chief of ENCOM’s software design team. (Cillian Murphy, who played Edward Dillinger Jr. in “Tron: Legacy,” is not in “Tron: Ares.”)
It’s explained in the exposition dump that Edward Dillinger Jr. is also dead. His widow Elisabeth Dillinger (played by Gillian Anderson) took over as CEO of Dillinger Systems. But more recently, Elisabeth was ousted by her ruthless son Julian Dillinger (played by Evan Peters), who manipulated the company’s board of directors to remove Elisabeth so that Julian could have the CEO position.
Near the beginning of the movie, Julian gives a presentation to investors and proclaims, “Military A.I. is the future.” To prove it, Julian shows off his crowning achievement: a “super soldier” named Ares (played by Jared Leto), whom Julian describes as “the most sophisticated security system” and “the ultimate soldier who needs no food or water.” Julian also says that if Ares and other super soldiers get struck down, Dillinger Systems can simply build identical soldiers to replace them, with the option to give the rebuilt soldiers the same memory chips they previously had. Julian also says that Ares is the “master control” leader of all the other super soldiers with similar abilities.
Julian has a secret that only he and his mother Elisabeth know about, and he’s desperate to keep this secret: Ares and the other super soldiers can only live for 26 minutes. Elisabeth warns Julian that keeping this secret is unethical, and it could ruin Dillinger Systems if anyone else finds out this secret. To correct this problem, Julian sends Ares on a mission to find a Permanence Code that Julian misplaced somewhere in the world. (Yes, the movie is that vague and stupid.) The Permanence Code will extend the life of Ares and other super soldiers. When Julian communicates with Ares, he uses an hologram avatar that looks like a giant face imitating a comic book supervillain, such as Darkseid or Thanos.
It turns out that Eve has spent months on an exploratory mission with her ENCOM sidekick Seth Flores (played by Arturo Castro) to find the same Permanence Code. Eve and Seth have been living in a Quonset hut somewhere in a snow-covered area when Eve accidentally discovers the Permanence Code. Julian finds out that Eve has the code, so now Julian commands Ares to not only get the Permanence Code but also eliminate Eve.
That’s essentially the plot of “Tron: Ares,” which takes some clumsy detours along the way. Ares has other “super soldiers” as backup warriors, but only two are given enough screen time to stand out: Athena (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) and Caius (played by Cameron Monaghan), who dutifully carry out Julian’s orders. Caius is barely in the movie, while Athena has a story arc that is utterly predictable.
The movie’s attempts at comic relief are usually in unremarkable wisecracking jokes from Seth and from ENCOM product development executive Arjun Singh (played by Hasan Minhaj), who is responsible for hosting ENCOM’s biggest product launch in years. This product launch happens to be in the middle of the battle for the Permanence Code, so it should come as no surprise what Julian does to retaliate. Arjun’s placement in the movie is awkward and only makes it obvious that this underdeveloped character is in the movie when the “heroes” need someone who can handle the computer geek duties and not the combat duties in a crucial showdown scene.
As expected, “Tron” has several chase scenes, usually on the neon motorcycles that have become the signature vehicles of the “Tron” movies. The fight scenes aren’t gory, but they aren’t particularly impressive, when it comes to the practical stunts. The movie’s biggest strength is in the visual effects, which are more style over substance. And the inevitable Grid scene is almost ruined by Ares’ idiotic comments about the Grid being very 1980s.
There are running “jokes” in the movie about how the 1980s were quaint and special. It’s the “Tron: Ares” way of pandering to fans who are old enough to remember when 1982’s “Tron” was first released and catering to fans who are young enough to view 1980s pop culture as a relic that’s worth mining to look “cool.” Ares mentions multiple times that he likes 1980s pop/rock, particularly Depeche Mode, whose 1981’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” is prominently featured in “Tron: Ares.” Ares’ taste in music is something he developed on his own, and he can’t explain it, which is an obvious indication that Ares is thinking independently from Julian.
Speaking of music, “Tron: Ares” features a compelling musical score from electronic rock band Nine Inch Nails, whose breakthrough and peak popularity were in the 1990s. Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are an Oscar-winning composer duo, so they are more than capable of handling the music for “Tron: Ares.” (Daft Punk did the music for “Tron: Legacy.”) The “Tron: Ares” soundtrack’s Nine Inch Nails songs that have vocals are “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” and “Who Wants to Live Forever?” The original Nine Inch Nails music is a highlight of “Tron: Ares,” but it’s not enough to save a movie that has such a weak story.
The acting performances in “Tron: Ares” are adequate at best and unimpressive at worst. That’s because the characters with the most screen time don’t have developed personalities and are just stereotypes. Leto (who is one of the producers of “Tron: Ares”) is portraying a robot who’s not supposed to have emotions, but even when Ares does develop some “feelings” he can’t explain, Leto’s acting delivery remains flat. Peters seems like he’s doing an inferior imitation of “Superman” villain Lex Luthor.
Lee is saddled with playing a generic character whose only moment of showing real vulnerability is in scenes that are about Eve’s sister Tess. Anderson mostly stands around and acts like a scolding and worried mother. Lynch is sometimes effectively terrifying as Athena, but portraying a programmed robot has its limitations. The only thing that comes close to believable character chemistry in the movie is the rapport between Eve and Seth, but even that comes across as a little strained and forced.
Even if the characters in “Tron: Ares” had more interesting personalities, the movie has several plot holes and unanswered questions. If Eve is such a powerful CEO, why doesn’t she have security protection? There are too many scenes of Eve zipping around alone on a motorcycle, while Ares and other super soldiers try to hunt her down. And if Julian can easily track down Eve and his super soldiers on his super-advance surveillance system, why didn’t use those same methods to embed the Permanence Code with a way to track it if the code got lost in the first place?
The movie also has some nonsense by declaring that even if Eve doesn’t have the flash drive where she stored the code, and even if she doesn’t remember the code, Eve can still know the secrets of the Permanence Code just because she saw the code. It’s just the movie’s flimsy excuse for Eve to be the target of Julian’s murder plot. “Tron: Ares” was never expected to be an intelligent sci-fi movie, but that doesn’t mean this substandard film has to treat viewers like idiots.
Walt Disney Pictures will release “Tron: Ares” in U.S. cinemas on October 10, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on October 8, 2025.