caraig | Dec. 18th, 2010

Long, long ago, I remember seeing Tron in theaters. It was a straght-up fantasy: Enter a strange world inside these "computers" that were starting to pop up everywhere, help to save it, and return. Classic Hero's Journey stuff, and for a kid very very powerful stuff. I remember trying to write a 'Tron Security Program' on my old Atari 800. In BASIC. Maybe if I'd learned Assembler it would have been a bit better, but of course back then I didn't know what assembly language was.

So now the juggernaut of Hollywood has scooped up my childhood fantasy movie and remoulded it. How does it fare? Well, let's find out.... ( Cut for spoilers. Commence Primary Ignition. )

I'm running out of steam here, so I'll close up. A good film. I saw it in IMAX 3D which was probably a little much -- I don't know about you but I don't like 3D movies. Sure, it's impressive, but it gives me a slight headache, and they tend to have too many gratuitous "plate of pancakes!" moments for my tastes. I don't mind that the movie isn't leaping off the screen at me to bop me on the head; I've lived with flat-screen movies for too long, I suppose. 3D just seems egregious. Still, it was pretty impressive.

So, I would recommend seeing it matinee. It's visually tasty eye-candy, Seeing it IMAX -- or what passes for IMAX in most movie theaters -- is not recommended since it can detract from the movie and it's damn expensive anyway.