A ‘Tron’ ReWatch

• Written and Directed by Steven Lisberger
• June 9, 1982

A computer hacker looking for evidence is sucked into a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where he must fight for his survival.

Tron is a movie that came out at the right AND wrong time. It is the right time given that it largely takes place in a world existing in computers that is more acceptable to an early 80s audience that were much less familiar than an audience of today due to the PC not being as ubiquitous. It was the wrong time because the technology to effectively create a computer world did not arrive for a few decades forcing workarounds and the use of computer graphics when the technology was not ready for such heavy use.

Many things have helped this remain beloved to a group of people. One is that it has some meat that makes the story richer than a surface level science-fiction fantasy. The major villain of the movie is the Master Control Program (MCP), voiced by David Warner who plays two other baddies in the movie, monitors and controls the ENCOM mainframe which is the reality where the movie takes place.

The MCP is the government of that world. It seeks to control all aspects of the lives of the people and is even taking steps to expand its control by infiltrating other systems. It seeks to crush the worship/belief of the people (programs) in their gods the users (people). Ending religion and infiltrating lives are what authoritarians do.

Programs often appear in the image of those that wrote them. Programs believe users guide them and lookout for them while trying to enact some master plan. Dumont (Bernard Hughes), a program that allows communication with users, looks a touch like a bishop. Sounds like a belief in God to me though the most philosophical it gets is by Flynn (Jeff Bridges) stating he like them is just making it up as he goes along.

The story that propels things is an effort to overthrow that evil government and free the people thus restoring the free and natural order of things. That order and freedom comes from serving the users who created them.

I don’t think this is a message movie or any kind of philosophical diatribe. I just think it uses real world or identifiable elements as it tells a fantastical story giving it a little bit more meat and also causing it to find a special place amongst the hearts of fans allowing it to stay in the consciousness of original viewers and succeeding generations.

What gets forgotten is that ‘Tron’ is not named after the world in which the digital characters exist but is named after the program Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) that Flynn joins forces with so he not only can escape from the computer but to end the MCP’s reign. Tron was the most important character and created by Alan Bradley (also Bruce Boxleitner) who has unleashed it as a security program with a purpose that would lead to the fall of the MCP and of the real world heavy ENCOM senior executive vice president Ed Dillinger (David Warner).

Flynn comes into the crosshairs of both Dillinger and the MCP by trying to break into the system and find evidence of Dillinger appropriating his games and using them to begin his corporate rise while disgracing Flynn.

David Warner plays an excellent choice to play three separate heavies: Dillinger, the MCP, and the MCP’s lacky Sark who is a command program. The MCP was unique unto itself but Sark like other programs is a reflection of Dillinger though unencumbered by the human world. He sneers and shouts like a moustache twirling villain.

It is a given in a movie like this there will be a climactic battle and here it is between Sark and Tron who shatters not only Sark’s identity disk but part of his head before a zombie Sark rises for one last strike. Two things you see while Sark is down: a glowing red pool and then when Sark is essentially taken over by the MPC little bits and pieces are falling out of his head. Blood and brains done in a family friendly computer way.

What should be an issue (or traditionally would be) between Alan and Flynn is that Flynn had previously dated Alans current girlfriend Dr. Lora Baines (Cindy Lacey Underall Morgan). Flynn still carries a torch for her and Lora’s dialogue makes Alan sound like a rebound. Ouch! Alan is kinda jealous and then not so much with them walking down the steps from the helipad laughing just before the credits. Why even introduce it if nothing was going to happen with it?!

Flynn’s attraction extends to Lora’s computer equivalent of Yori. Just before he makes his move that allows Tron to defeat the MCP, Flynn plants a passionate kiss on Yori despite their minimal interactions. She then does the same to Tron once the system is freed.

Visionary writer/director Steven Lisberger and the cast treat this take on the parallel reality genre seriously. There is some silly dialogue delivered with the utmost earnestness. This takes place in an alien world that is right beside our own. Not a standard thing for a movie set in the present.

The action is good, but not great. Most of the action though is computer graphics driven which were limited at the time. The light cycle hands-down is the best moment but shortly thereafter with the recognizer being a second. Then it is kind of muted.

Tron is a fun science-fiction fantasy film from the early 80s. It’s not a message movie, but it does have some meat to it which allows it to remain in the minds of the viewer. The graphics may not measure up to today’s standards, but if you go in seeking to be entertained you will be satisfied.