There's just not much imagination in Legacy. It's a chase film, and an action film, and it leaves obvious breadcrumbs for sequels everywhere, but it doesn't actually try very hard to be a very good movie. Besides Daft Punk's great score, the only imagination on display is in Jeff Bridges' acting. (Having seen True Grit, let me assure you: That motherfucker can act.) And his dual role as the laid-back zen master of avoidance and the confused, uptight man-child he created is something to see.(It's true that the youthanized Bridges-as-Clu is rubbery, but that kind of works, given he's a computer program. I just wish they hadn't used the same rubbery effects to depict a younger Jeff Bridges in flashback scenes.) I was going to call the performance "too good for the movie," but that's just the thing: It's perfect for the movie. It couldn't exist without the movie. And that is why Jeff Bridges is awesome.
I wish Tron: Legacy was willing to take more risks. I wish they could have brought in some tech-minded writers to turn the whole thing into a witty metaphor for the battle for Net Neutrality (all the pieces were there; the writing just needed to be more clever). As far as brainless action movies go, it's mediocre. You feel insulted in a few places by the talking-heads scenes, you feel bored by the action in a few too many places, and you don't have much confidence in the team behind this movie to make a third film into something worthwhile. And while the effects are excellent, the 3D is pointless. So, no. It's not a terrible movie. But it's not at all a daring movie. And 2010 is a year that really could have used a lot more daring movies.
