This would sharpen you up and make you ready for…
I’ve put together my first piece that I’ll be getting printed and selling. Based on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, one of my favorite films. It’s going to be done as a three-color silk-screened print on some nice French Paper.
I’m trying to gauge interest for orders, to see if it’s worth the initial investment. There probably won’t be many made, and when I’m inevitably famous, this will probably be worth some serious dough! ;-)
It won’t be expensive either, I can’t imagine more than $15-$20.
Let me know what you think,
M
And then one day…
Sam: “You got in?”
Kevin: “I got in!”
Flynn did get in, and created something quite spectacular. The same can be said for the entire cast and crew of TRON: Legacy. It was an amazing audio/visual masterpiece. Obviously it helped that I attended an official Dolby Labs 7.1 screening with extra speakers set up by Dolby themselves. That, and official Dolby 3D glasses made with actual glass lenses.
Yes, it’s true, TRON looks and sounds amazing. Quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen really. Ever since the first teaser video I’ve felt like this film was personally designed for me and me alone. The visual style screams at me, and anyone who knows me can tell you I’ve been obsessing over it for a long, long time. The 3D is subtle, not unlike Avatar, and never really gets in your face. It adds an awesome depth, but there are times where I wondered if it even needed the 3D treatment. But when the 3D looked good, it looked great. It was worth the extra ticket price.
I don’t need to go into detail about the brilliant art & set design, or the masters at Digital Domain & Skywalker Sound. Their reputation precedes them and it’s no different here. I fully expect this film to get Oscar nods for outstanding visual effects & editing. Audio noms as well.
That brings me to the soundtrack. Daft Punk did a great job with their score, it really fit the tone of the film. Listening to the soundtrack on an endless loop paid off as I matched the tracks to their visual cues. It was pretty entertaining. The soundtrack didn’t rub me the right way at all times, though. The tone for the entire score is a pretty slow & tame electronic mood with orchestral backing, and for the most part it fits. However, there are some key moments when the score falls short and action scenes suffer because of it.
In the lightcycle and lightjet scenes, the action is so intense and fast paced, vehicles are whizzing by, things are blowing up, people are exploding. It’s fantastic! However, Daft Punk’s droning soundtrack doesn’t seem to pick up near enough to match the action. This makes the sequences feel significantly slower than they should be. I’m not sure if this is Daft Punk’s error or Disney’s.
Story-wise, I think it was just fine. People going into a TRON sequel expecting a Tolkien-esque experience are going to be disappointed. There’s a very clear plot and it’s pretty damn coherent from beginning to end. There are some quibbles I have about certain aspects, some things I feel could’ve been better explained and fleshed out. If you read the prequel comics or played the game, there are a lot of cool nods and things you’ll pick up on that you would’ve otherwise missed.
There are definitely a few things that annoyed me, and if you care about spoilers you might want to skip these paragraphs…
Spoilers!
The inclusion of Tron as a villain was pretty cool, but was also pretty damn obvious if you noticed the “T” on Riznler’s suit. I felt that Tron’s transformation into Riznler should’ve been explained. It was fairly obvious that CLU took what remained of Tron and retrofitted him to be his minion, but some sort of flashback or explanation would’ve really been welcome. Tron is too important of a character to be relegated to the antagonist’s lapdog without closure. Sure, we see his suit go blue for a split second before the end of the film, but I feel the character of Tron is too important for the disservice the film did to him. The protagonist of The Grid, its protector, was completely overlooked story wise and that really bothered me.
My only other real annoyance with the story was Flynn’s martyrdom. I felt it was completely unnecessary. Since Sam and Quorra were going through the portal anyway, they could’ve easily removed CLU from the equation and returned to The Grid to help rebuild it with Kevin. Even moreseo, Kevin could’ve left and lived the rest of his life with Sam and Quorra doing research with Bradley. Granted, CLU was nearing the portal himself, but given Kevin’s display of power, he could’ve easily achieved the same result without dying. I felt his death was untimely and that their relationship should’ve continued. However, this is TRON Legacy, as in the “Flynn Legacy”, so I understand why it ended the way it did.
Sam and Quorra riding away at the end felt like a cool Blade Runner nod to me…which is good in my book.
Spoilers Over!
Jeff Bridges was hilarious, Michael Sheen stole the show as Castor and Quorra was absolutely adorable and insanely hot at the same time. There was great comedy, great action, and the experience was second to none.
CLU: “Kevin Flynn! Am I still to create the perfect system!?”
Kevin: “…Yeah?”
Funniest line in the movie.
See it!
My MOON Complexities
The following contains slight allusions to events in the film and may be a bit more knowledge than you’d like if you haven’t seen it yet. Proceed with caution!
I’m a huge science fiction buff, and not just in cinema standards, but in technology, genetic enhancement, scientific evolution, etc. I’ve always had an “open-book” point of view on this stuff, that the moral repercussions were worth it and that it was all in the name of evolutionary advancement, science, etc. Cloning is obviously one of these things, and I’ve always felt the ends would justify the means, and it’d be a fantastic step in a new scientific direction.
This film managed to make me rethink that point of view. Never before has a film made me consider my stance on something I stood so strongly for. It’s an impressive feat, and the credit shouldn’t only go to Jones, but to Rockwell for the incredible humanization of the role. I left the film truly moved, and feeling that the things I’ve dreamt about could actually be wrong to do, and not a morally just way to pursue scientific advancement.
Turning something like that on its head is a weird experience for me, as I still feel how I did before, but now with a view of the other side of the argument, and I can’t figure out what stance I truly want to take.
Glorious film, nearly my favorite of the year. Between this and District 9, we had a brilliant year for science fiction. The fact Sony isn’t getting behind MOON for Oscar consideration is an absolute travesty; as Jones and Rockwell are MORE than deserving of nominations.
