Tron Legacy 3D - 23 minute preview review
With a few minutes to go before the film, (I'm guessing) the manager appeared announcing that he would be viewing the film with us as well as the twin security guards to make sure no filming would take place and that we could provide feedback after the showing. He also mentioned that we would see a number of different scenes from the first half of the film.
3D glasses went on, a quick advert for the video game which looked ok then the familiar BBFC certificate. The first scene introduced Flynn's grown-up son, Sam arriving back on his motorbike to his warehouse-like house between two massive bridges. His cute little dog welcomes him and is given a wrapped burger. Bruce Boxleitner also awaits him to give him his father's arcade store keys and says he received a pager message.
Sam visits the arcade store and discovers the secret backroom. Wiping away the dust he activates the console and projection beam just behind him. The 3D suddenly kicks into the following scene as Sam is warped to inside the Grid and is captured by some guards then whisked away on the flying 'recognizer'. There's a number of captives, one mumbling to himself and another with his face damaged showing some sort of robotic skull. They're transported over the electronic city then land at a major hub. The prisoners are assessed, one realises his impending doom and jumps off the side. Sam is last to be picked and his feet clamped to the floor which sinks into a lift-like shaft. At the bottom four ladies robotically greet him and redress him into Tron gear commenting that he's different.
A different scene and we finally get to see some action with Sam entering a disc fight or ring game. The clear visor animation looks cool as Sam defends himself and the rebounding disc takes away some of the floor sections.
Another action scene and the other must-see, the Light Cycles. Its a chase scene and the special effects really impress as Sam is a passenger to Oliver Wilde's character (plays Thirteen in House) driving the car. The car look a lot better than expected working well with the 3D. A light cycle gets destroyed then another but the rider somehow regenerates another in mid-air causing the first audible gasp from the audience. They escape by blowing a hole through the stadium's wall then the car converts into an off-roader. Somehow someone's got hold of this scene and put it on YouTube:
The final scene is Sam finally meeting his father. Flynn Senior (Jeff Bridges) recognises him and hugs him but lets say he's not quite all there. The camera pans around to see the rest of his house and we see a classic light cycle, a nice nod to the original Tron film.
The exclusive sneak preview ends with the 'Derezzed' video with Daft Punk and the excellent Michael Sheen camping it up.
Overall impressions from the preview
The 23 minutes we saw came across as a very stylish film with the computer generated look, animation and effects being the stars of the show. The 3D wasn't that impressive but perhaps seeing it at an IMAX may do it justice. The plot could be quite simple to follow, boy finds father, son rescues father from cyberspace prison. Hopefully they'll sort the sound out at the beginning of the film as some vocals were too bass heavy to hear properly, a minor point which could be just down to the cinema's soundsystem.
Comments