Geek Movies From The Summer Of 1982 - TRON

Here is the last movie that was released for the geek cycle but not the last to be reviewed.  The last two are my favorites and those I will save for last.  But I do like Tron.  I really do and after watching it again on Blu Ray I just marveled at how awesome it looked.  It looked amazing with the bright colors and visuals of the computer world.  It looked really great.

Yet again this was a movie I had to catch up with while I was an adult.  I grew up in a home without cable TV and my parents did not like to go to the movie theater.  Then when VCR’s came out well I was stuck watching what my parents rented and Tron and many of the 1982 movies were not picked.  But in fairness to my parents they did rent some cool geek movies and we did go the movies occasionally to see the blockbusters. 

The plot is a pretty clever one.  Flynn is a computer genius and video game legend.  He has created a game that was stolen from him which is making millions.  He is trying to get proof to find the evidence but to no avail.   The Master Control Program eventually uses the laser to transport him into the computer world to get rid of him once and for all.  But Flynn befriends Tron and together they head out to stop the Master Control Program and free all the programs.

Like I said in the intro I enjoyed this movie.  It was different.  It was not the first to use animation and live action but it sure was the most ambitious of its time.  With the popularity of computers and the dawn of the age of the home PC Tron takes us into the world of computers.  Some of the characters have computer programming names like Ram.  Just having an action movie taking place in a computer world is pretty cool.  Imagine back in 1982 when video games were at their height and arcades were all over the place and you get a movie that is just like a video game.  In fact the video game is inside the computer.   What a concept that I still marvel at when I watch it.

I loved watching it on Blu Ray.  The image was so crisp and the colors really stood out.  It was amazing to see.  Mainly the scene where Tron and Flynn were driving around on the bikes and the color trail was coming out behind them.  That was a great visual and looked even better in HD.

I just enjoy this movie.  True it’s not the greatest story ever told but it is a fun movie to watch.  I love how Jeff Bridges plays Flynn.  A cocky knows it all that is suddenly thrown into a battle for his life.  Plus David Warner plays a wonderful bad guy.   Sark is just a pawn really and gets run around by Tron and Flynn but David Warner just plays it really well.  Bruce Boxleitner as Tron is wonderful also.   It is funny seeing him so young as Tron when I’m used to seeing him as Captain Sheridan from Babylon 5.

While TRON is a fun movie to watch and my 3 favorite of that summer it does drag at times. But that is minor as you do get caught up in the visuals.  Too bad it didn’t do as great as expected and too bad the sequel came so many years later.