***SPOILER ALERT***
DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET
Jarvis - Lead Evil Lackey
- Problems:
The weaselly second hand man of CLU, Jarvis was a freaking turd and a half and had absolutely no purpose. As my friend Ben so eloquently put it, he was like how Starscream was to Megatron back in the old Transformer cartoon days and was just about as useful. I didn't like his stupid, bald, rat-like head or that clear screen thing he had attached to it either. - Solution:
Delete his ass from the script or make him cool and have a unique power. If there is to be a second/third hand man it should be someone solid and hardcore. The bad guys need to seem like an insurmountable force and the higher the rank of evil, the meaner that mofo needs to be. He should be a mini-boss like Darth Maul/Vader was to The Emperor or how Goro was to Shao Kahn. His battle should be a hell of duel but not as epic as the big man himself. And that was what Tron/Rinzler (I'll get to him in a second) was supposed to be so they didn't even really need to muddle things with this rodent. But see my Kevin Flynn solution for another cool way to use this guy.
- Problems:
The trafficker of information and programs/night club owner, Castor, was pointless, wasted precious attention span time and detracted from the plot. He didn't fit the whole feel of the Grid at all. His overly flamboyant character felt really out of place and too forced. I know they "needed" someone to draw out Sam Flynn thereby forcing out Kevin Flynn but they could have done better than this weak character. - Solution:
Remove this guy completely (best choice) or make him more calm and collected, not wanna-be gay/Ziggy Stardust. I love gays more than most but you don't have to force one in to fit your politically correct quota. This guy was pretty much the cheesy and unfunny brother of The Merovingian from The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions. Ditch him.
- Problems:
They were almost perfect with Tron's character. He was cool to watch, never spoke and did some amazing fighting. I wanted to see a bad ass fight with this guy at the finale not just sinking away to the bottom of the ocean. I did like how he "remembered" that he fought for the user but it was dumb how he did. It just randomly happened in mid battle. Um… seriously? - Solution:
Reset or reprogram him like they did with the one random guard Kevin bonked stupidly (*sigh*) on the head. Here's my alternate ending. In the end battle scene on the catwalk before the beam home, make Sam fight Tron. Then as Sam is finally beaten, knocked down and about to be dispatched, he puts his user powers to the test and blasts out the evil reprogramming of CLU. Then Tron changes to the side of good again and steps up to CLU for the most epic program battle of all time. Make them go toe to toe but eventually Tron gets killed or knocked off the bridge to oblivion by trickery or just plain old fashioned overpowering. The skirmish is so intense though that CLU is made really weak. Then Kevin Flynn could just walk up and finally absorb him. Kevin could still die since it's the only way to totally erase CLU and reset the grid. Shed some tears for dad, rejoice that things are golden again and jump into the slipstream with your hot new cyber girl toy. Hooray!
- Problem:
I like most of what this boy not-so wonder had to offer save for a couple things. He didn't show off any "user" skills like his father did back in this movies predecessor and he didn't get a chance to evolve, grow into his powers or even shine. He thought outside of the box like a user would by escaping the games but big whoop. There was one scene of him about to kick ass when he was headed to rescue his fathers disc and Quorra but they cut away and showed peoples parts exploding as Jarvis nervously watched through a door. Lame. - Solution:
Make him have a pretty good final fight against Tron like I mentioned in the Rinzler/Tron solution above. Maybe make him pump some user juice into his light bike to get the edge in the games. Give him more growing room. I want to see some upgrading. Maybe even let him upgrade himself, again via user bonuses, to be tougher than his dad in some areas. Not all though, because poppa Flynn needs to be always rockin'.
- Problem:
This character only has a few edges to polish. As above, I want more user powers. In the first Tron he can rebuild ships and divert energy beams and what not. All he did in this one was turn off the lights at the club and evetually absorb CLU. His appearance at the disco hall in that ultra dope robe was goose bump material but he didn't lay the smack down at all. I did really like how he sucked in CLU at the end but I wanted more than that. That was the perfect stage for an unforgettable fight scene. I mean you're working the digital realm… run with it and finish strong! - Solution:
Use the force, dude. Build something useful. Destroy something on the evil side that's valuable in grandiose fashion. Maybe have a scene where he fights but more of in a defensive and wise "I am the master" kind of way. So maybe during the club scene a cooler version of Jarvis steps up to the plate. Jarvis uses his unique skill that he's been boasting about and possible used on a lesser good guy (sonic boom, ultra ninja sword skills, hyper speed, super fast regeneration, etc.) to best Sam. Daddy then intervenes and defeats him in a way only the original Tron gangsta can. Or maybe make there be just too many bad guys against Sam and Quorra and pops busts out "the user force" to derezze them all somehow. Hell, I can think of a thousand ways to make his persona killer.
Parting Thoughts
I suppose my biggest issues were that there wasn't enough user power exploitation, the ending kind of fizzled and that the plot needed to stay focused. They didn't need much of a script other than prodigal child goes in to save lost father, so just stick to that. It was a bit long and needed to keep the pace up. There were also too many trivial and unneeded characters. Like why show the son of the bad guy from the first Tron, Dillinger, if you aren't going to use him? Want to know what else I would have liked to have seen? Maybe make the Flynn's have to team up to defeat someone or something in some amazing user power combo thingy. Like a Captain Planet/Voltron/Power Ranger "our powers combined" kind of shtick. Have them team up to keep a whole building together like Kevin did to the rectifier vehicle in the first movie. Get Flynn to fight Flynn either completely unknowingly or because they must to defeat CLU somehow. I could go on and on. Regardless, the script could have been better that's for sure.
As I keep saying to everyone who asks how it was, you go see this movie not to have your brain rebooted like Inception but to bask in the visual and audio glory. The cycle races, disc wars and jet scenes were breathtakingly gorgeous and simply outstanding. The sets, costumes and effects were seriously on point. The Daft Punk soundtrack, which of course I own, was absolutely stellar and fit like a glove. The acting and lines weren't too vomit inducing and of course Jeff Bridges was funny and did quite well. I'm also glad they didn't try to squeeze some half ass attempt at a love story in there. So even with the above flaws and a few others that I won't get into, I recommend you go see this movie in 3D and pay the projector guy to kick the sound up a notch or two. It's worth it.
Stars: ★★★★☆
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