Tron Legacy Movie Review

[Larry Young]

Another bummer: I was disappointed that there was only 1 female character for every 50-100 male characters, literally. I saw a total of 6 female characters in the whole film, including Quorra -- of those 5 didn't have more than 2 minutes of screen time and little to no dialog, 4 of those were never seen again, and 2 were twins with no dialog so they counted as 1. There were so many opportunities to have included some females in what is a major sci-fi film. Any of the programs that were "arrested", any of the gaming competitors, any of the clones, any of the henchmen. Blah.

Name a Hollywood summer blockbuster action movie in the last forty years that's had more than one female character for every ten males. It's just not in the story. Saying you're disappointed by this lack is like complaining there's no chocolate sauce in your lobster tail. It might be good, but that's not what the audience expects.

SUCKER PUNCH looks like it might increase the percentage though, although I note you might be careful what you wish for. :lol

 

[TheNickFox]

Also, if we want to go with the idea that programs look like their programmer/user that female-male ratio suddenly seems pretty high to me based on the number of males vs. females in the profession.

-Nick

 

[glitterbomb]

Name a Hollywood summer blockbuster action movie in the last forty years that's had more than one female character for every ten males. It's just not in the story.

uh, yeah. that was precisely my point. there's a gross lack of them in all major films (besides RomComs), and this is not just yet another disappointing example of that, but also an absurdly obvious example. And in majority of those films it's completely unnecessary. Like does the cab driver or waiter or side kick or officer have to be male for the plot or character to work? no, so WTF? women spend a lot of money on entertainment as well, so it would be nice of filmmakers realized that we exist at some point, or gave us something else to do besides be silent while wearing catsuits.

Saying you're disappointed by this lack is like complaining there's no chocolate sauce in your lobster tail. It might be good, but that's not what the audience expects.

no actually that's like complaining that there is no LOBSTER in your lobster tail. you're assuming that all audiences are (a) the same and (b) have the same expectations. fact is there is a whole bunch of us, like millions of us who would like to see some representation on screen. That goes for minorities as well. And a whole bunch of people who would watch the film if there were some more female characters scattered throughout.

kind of veering toward a tangent now, but my complaint was a valid one about the film. I wouldn't expect different from Disney. However, there was no reason to exclude women from some of the tertiary roles (like the examples I gave) since gender played no part in those roles.

It's not like there aren't women using the internet or gaming. It was an opportunity for the filmmakers to actually show the next digital era, and they failed. blah. though like I said, there were A LOT of other shortcomings in the film. heee.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

Your complaint gives the impression that you go to films for the express point of seeing if women are "given their fair shift". If that's why you go, it's time for a new hobby.

 

[glitterbomb]

Your complaint gives the impression that you go to films for the express point of seeing if women are "given their fair shift". If that's why you go, it's time for a new hobby.

*sigh*

ugh, puhlease. recognizing a real and ongoing problem in the industry does not make one myopic. go read more, there are tons and tons of articles written on the subject, as well as the problems with ongoing racism in the industry. noticing the obvious does not mean one has an agenda. it means one has the basic brain function to note the obvious.

the majority of my post covered other aspects of the film, including some things that hadn't yet been mentioned, and of course people want to nitpick that one point.

bored now.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

I appreciated your other observations, unfortunately, you managed to negate my interest in all of them by polluting your post.

I'm sorry, but the victim society's reverse bigotry is starting to become sickening. Don't like the status quo? Cool, do something to change it, but whining about it won't help.

I, as a typical male, was paying "especial attention" to the women in this film, and failed to notice the shortage of females. You were looking for it, denying it is pointless.

 

[nickytea]

I'm just happy that the prominent female character actually, you know, had something to do. A reason to be there. Ramifications and effects to the other characters. A central importance to the dramatic content. That can't be said about the first film.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

I'm just happy that the prominent female character actually, you know, had something to do. A reason to be there. Ramifications and effects to the other characters. A central importance to the dramatic content. That can't be said about the first film.

Absolutely. A far cry better than "Yuri".

 

[Agent RayBans]

I'm just happy that the prominent female character actually, you know, had something to do. A reason to be there. Ramifications and effects to the other characters. A central importance to the dramatic content. That can't be said about the first film.

In addition to everything you just said, I was also quite pleased to see that Quorra and Sam didn't give in to stereotypical kiss right at the end, proving a Guy and a Girl can work together without getting having to get hot and heavy. Even Kevin Flynn couldn't resist smooching Yori.

 

[Larry Young]

you're assuming that all audiences are (a) the same and (b) have the same expectations.

I'm assuming no such thing, and, honestly, I'd appreciate it if you don't ascribe your assumptions to my words. If you'd like a conversation about this issue, I'm all for it; please don't extrapolate anything without asking what I meant, first, though, if it's not immediately obvious to you.

And I'm not speaking towards the "validity" of your "complaint," at all; I'm speaking towards economic realities vis-a-vis Hollywood action movie blockbusters in 2010.

I'd make the argument that "women" weren't "excluded" from the narrative any more than "four-wheeled vehicles" were. You only need a couple for the story being told. :lol

As to "missed opportunities," I'd think folks without a gender-agenda would have a field day with that subject before they got to "dang, there weren't a lot of women in this film, were there?"

hee

and

hee

 

[SithLord]

Saw it on IMAX this evening. Gosh it is like an entirely different film, the sound was incredible. When the recognizer was onscreen it felt like the entire theater was going to come down, hehe. The games were ten times better as well to watch.

Anyway, Tron did turn blue in the water as well.

So there wasn't utter destruction at the end, still an ocean and shore.

Once they got on the sailer it did drag a bit. I can see where there was lost opportunity. They should have at that point gone back to the games.

It was said the ISOs were a miracle and they would change medicine. So maybe there's something unique about their DNA. Was hard to tell in the graphics whether it was generic base pair structure.

 

[CTF]

IMAX is the ****, yo.

Nothing beats it.

 

[CB2001]

In addition to everything you just said, I was also quite pleased to see that Quorra and Sam didn't give in to stereotypical kiss right at the end, proving a Guy and a Girl can work together without getting having to get hot and heavy. Even Kevin Flynn couldn't resist smooching Yori.

I agree with you on this. Unlike Flynn and Yori, Quorra and Sam had just met, so naturally, them not hooking up at the very end of the film was satisfyingly real for me, and it leaves plenty of room for that potential to occur in the time between "Tron Legacy" and whatever the next film may be. Remember, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann hated Captain Jack Sparrow when they first met him, and still didn't like him at the end of the first film. But by the end of the third one, they still didn't like him, but they respected him.

Also, I think the reason why Flynn kissed Yori was because not only was he about to risk his life to distract the MCP (which could have possibly lead to his own death), but I think the fact that she looked like Lora (to whom he still had feelings for) had something to do with that one kiss before he jumped.

 

[glitterbomb]

I appreciated your other observations, unfortunately, you managed to negate my interest in all of them by polluting your post.

I'm sorry, but the victim society's reverse bigotry is starting to become sickening. Don't like the status quo? Cool, do something to change it, but whining about it won't help.

I, as a typical male, was paying "especial attention" to the women in this film, and failed to notice the shortage of females. You were looking for it, denying it is pointless.

wow, this is just comical now. you're refusing to acknowledge a basic issue, proven many times by many sources, and getting your panties in a bunch over it. seriously? no one is playing the victim. I made the observation that this film went even more overboard than is usual in the industry regarding the male-to-female ratio, even though there was no reason to do so. and since the film had the opportunity to show a different, more evolved digital age than the original in the 80s, that's disappointing and kinda lazy.

again... discussing the movie: interesting. attempting to spark a debate of a basic proven fact: boring.

for the record, it was the GUYS in my group who pointed out the movie was a sausage fest, unprompted by the women. so there goes your handy assumption. *eye roll* when we all reflected on that point we realized that we had a hard time even filling one hand with the number of female characters, yet there were literally hundreds of male characters. the most I could come up with was 6, and I had to struggle for that.


back to the film itself, you know, the point of the thread....

Anyway, Tron did turn blue in the water as well.

So there wasn't utter destruction at the end, still an ocean and shore.

that was what I noticed too. It didn't seem that the entire world was destroyed, perhaps just the port. but even that may not have happened. big blasty white light could mean anything since the tech was so vague.

a funny thing I forgot to mention before... one of my friends pointed out that Castor/Zuse was the most fun to watch because so many of the other characters were kinda bland and robotic. He was one of the very few who was allowed to really have a personality and exhibit the signs of a program gone "wrong," instead of just being steely cool guy. I really enjoyed the time he was onscreen, I wish there had been more.

Oh, and we all agreed that the black guy with the scarred face in the club was way cool looking and died too soon. hee.

 

[CB2001]

Should we go ahead and start listing off the subtile references to the previous film here? Or should we wait until after it comes out on DVD to start compiling the list?

I can name a lot of the unintentional connections that the film has to the "Tron 2.0" video game, if you guys want. :cool

 

[Larry Young]

*eye roll* when we all reflected on that point we realized that we had a hard time even filling one hand with the number of female characters, yet there were literally hundreds of male characters. the most I could come up with was 6, and I had to struggle for that.

Individual female characterss, yes? How many of CLU's army were females?

I would make the argument that there were around fifteen main male characters and three main female characters, but a 1:5 female/male ratio isn't that bad for a Hollywood movie.

But I think that statement may fall on deaf ears.

 

[ghostryder]

15 Easter eggs to watch out for in Tron Legacy

 

[nickytea]

The discussions this movie has inspired between my friends and I, both online and off (how appropriate), is approaching Inception level complexity and depth. Always a good sign.

I feel like we've got a book worth of evidence against the "no story" claims that seem to be flying around a lot here and elsewhere on the 'net. It's starting to occur to me that the things I love most are also the most divisive. The elements that make it so overwhelmingly effective for me must necessitate it being equally ineffective for others.

 

[Jedifyfe]

I saw it tonight. I really liked it.

The story and back story were better than I thought possible. The CGI young Jeff could've been done better IMO. But I LOVED all the old lines reused in this one.

Did anyone else get that Sam was living in Dumont's garage? Remeber in TRON when Dumont says to Dillinger that "it was better when we worked out of our garage"

 

[nickytea]

Did anyone else get that Sam was living in Dumont's garage? Remeber in TRON when Dumont says to Dillinger that "it was better when we worked out of our garage"

It's tough to say that is literally what is happening, as Dumont was not his real name ... Walter Gibbs was. The garage says "Dumont Shipping." Closest we can assume/has been alluded to in the ARG, was that Kevin started it in his memory. The garage is certainly a visual echo, though, of just that line you mentioned.