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Tron: Legacy (part 3D)

7/10

Stars: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Visually spectacular - the spatial chases far outdo Star Wars - but short on plot for a two-hour movie, this is a sequel to the original Disney hit of the 1980s, in which Bridges found himself trapped in his own computer creations. With the aid of a little CGI trickery, Bridges plays not only his younger self, now disappeared up his own terminal, but also his inventions Tron and Clu (the latter having turned against him, and taken over The City), as well as his now older incarnation.

His son Sam (Hedlund), having undergone a strange hair-colour change from the start of the film and pushing 28, finds, with the help of his father's old partner (Boxleitner) the portal to his dad's world. Alan has now been shunted aside by ruthless new factions, so both virtual and real worlds are in the hands of the bad guys.

Just as The Wizard of Oz burst into colour when Dorothy arrived in her new world, so Tron: Legacy bursts into 3D as Sam enters The City, where everyone carries on their back discs which contain vital data as well as act as weapons - but the system hardly adds to some great helter-skelter action scenes, even if the movie remains more video game than story.

There's a girl (Wilde), of course, one of the 'isomorphic algarisms' with which Bridges planned to bless our world, plus a prancing Sheen as a white-suited dilettante who boasts of getting anyone anywhere - like back to the portal. 'You'll need a forged disc,' he tells Hedlund, getting the biggest laugh of the evening.

David Quinlan

USA 2010. UK Distributor: Walt Disney. Colour by deluxe.
126 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 11 Dec 2010