ron takes place in two worlds: An electronic virtual reality that exists inside a mainframe computer system, where programs have become characters. And the real world of the late 1970s, when software engineers first began designing games for video arcade machines.
Flynn (Jeff Bridges), the genius who created five of the most popular games while working for ENCOM, now runs a video arcade. His programs were stolen by unscrupulous co-worker Dillinger (David Warner), who gained control of ENCOM from its founder Dr. Gibbs (Barnard Hughes) and fired Flynn. Dillinger now runs ENCOM through his Master Control Program (MCP), a power-hungry artificial intelligence that controls the company's computer system.
Flynn convinces two friends at ENCOM, Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora (Cindy Morgan), to help him get evidence of Dillinger's theft. Alan has developed a program called Tron to monitor the system, and Dr. Gibbs and Lora have developed a way to laser-digitize real objects to create computer models. When Flynn accesses the system, the MCP turns the laser on him, drawing him into the virtual world.
The digitized Flynn is transformed into an arcade game gladiator and forced by the MCP to play against programs that take on the aspects of their creators. Flynn soon meets Tron, who looks like Alan, and they break out of the gaming area in a quest to reach the in/out tower where they can contact the real world. They flee through surreal arcade-game landscapes, avoiding capture by various programs controlled by the MCP through its evil warlord Sark (Dillinger), and eventually team up with Yori (Lora) and Dumont (Dr. Gibbs) in hopes of eliminating MCP, restoring freedom to the cyberworld and finding evidence that proves Dillinger's deception.
A fantasy quest in cyberspace
Tron broke new ground in creating a complex computer-generated virtual world with characters who exist only as computer programs. The movie appeared well before virtual reality became a common trope in SF, and even before William Gibson's seminal 1984 novel Neuromancer introduced the concept of cyberspace and forever changed the face of science fiction. The visuals in the movie were stunningly new in the days prior to microcomputers, even if they are somewhat simplistic by today's standards.
While the movie is certainly a classic in terms of visual innovation, unfortunately the story line and characters are neither distinctive nor original. Some degree of cleverness can be seen in the translation of the terminology and concepts of computer game programming into the virtual computer reality, but the plot is a standard Tolkienesque quest fantasy, with a band of stalwart heroes seeking to overthrow an all-powerful evil lord.
There is little real effort made to explain in credible SF terms how computer programs could become artificial intelligences. The characters also never truly come alive, despite excellent acting, especially by Bridges and Warner. (Fans of Babylon 5 will be interested to see in the movie not only Bruce Boxleitner as Tron, but Peter Jurasik as one of the virtual gladiators.) More effort should have been made to establish the characters in the real world before moving the story into the computer realm.
But Tron is an important movie in terms of the history of SF&F films, and especially the history of visual effects. It's definitely worth a rental.
