Tron (1982)

Tagline: A world inside the computer where man has never been. Never before now.

Curiosity: It’s the Matrix of the ’80s. Also I wanted to bone up before belated sequel Tron: Legacy drops.

Plot: Flynn (Jeff “The Dude” Bridges) is a computer programmer working on bringing down corporate hack Ed Dillinger (David Warner), who ripped off several video games he designed. Dillinger has since navigated his pirated material to the top of the corporate ladder, but Flynn’s buddy Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) suspects he’s up to something. Turns out Dillinger didn’t stop at stealing video games; his program Master Control has been stealing bits of data from all over, and is preparing to invade the White House. Flynn, Alan, and Alan’s girlfriend/scientist buddy Lora (Cindy Morgan) attempt to find out the truth, but when Flynn gets too close, Master Control sucks him inside a computer.

Then things get trippy.

Thoughts: I think filmmakers took all the wrong lessons from Tron. It’s been heralded as a breakthrough in computer animation – which it is – but the film didn’t rely on any one trick to create its otherworldly look. In fact, there’s only about 15 minutes total of CGI in the film. The rest utilizes a combination of back lighting, set design, film scratching, and good ol’ fashioned acting to create the weirdly neon world inside a computer.

Even then, Tron isn’t a perfect film. The story tosses out a lot of sci-fi concepts that could support entire other films in order to get to its main idea: What if “The Dude” got sucked into a computer? Early on the film tosses out ideas like teleportation and sentient A.I. in order to explain its central plot, and it doesn’t really do that great of a job explaining, and therefore validating, those concepts. In fact, the script skips a few important steps in order to get Bridges inside the damn computer.

But while Tron’s first 30 minutes are rushed, the film eventually gives itself over to the computer world and starts turning out one eye-popping scene after the next. While the CGI is certainly primitive by today’s standards, it still fits the setting perfectly. Yeah, the movie sometimes bullshits its way through science-y stuff, but it’s fucking Tron.

Reflection: I’m a nerd.