TRON: Ares 2025 Review

Fifteen years have passed since a new Tron film, and Tron: Ares arrives carrying both weighty expectations and neon light trails. The movie tells the story in part of Eve Kim (Greta Lee) discovering the “Permanence Code,” a piece of digital lore hidden in a floppy disk that her late sister had been hunting. The plot twists through AI, identity and how digital life can cling to reality.

I really enjoyed this film. Its pacing, visual effects and acting are strong. It does not reinvent the wheel, but for a Tron movie it feels a little different from the previous ones, specially since much of the story now takes place outside the server and digital Grid. That shift gives room for fresh stakes.

Jared Leto plays Ares, a program stepping into the real world with conflicted purpose. He finally seems to have landed a character that suits him. He carries both menace and vulnerability. Greta Lee as Eve Kim holds her own and brings grounded human emotion amid the neon spectacle. The ensemble also includes Evan Peters, Jodie Turner Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges returning as Kevin Flynn.

The CGI and action are standout elements. Lightcycle chases, Grid overlays merging with city streets, digital code manifesting in physical form, these moments are gorgeous. The film leans into spectacle and manages to make digital violence feel visceral rather than sterile.

The soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) deserves special mention. It’s industrial, haunting, emotional, a perfect fit for this darker Tron take. There were moments in fight scenes where my head was literally bopping to the beat of the score. That said, the script has weaknesses. The characters beyond Eve and Ares sometimes feel underused. Some plot beats lean familiar and the dialogue occasionally slips into exposition. There are critics who say the film is visually rich but thematically weak or superficial.

One of the more memorable moments is the opening reveal: Eve inserts the floppy disk, the code spills across her monitor, and you see the Grid’s light trails flicker into the real world. It feels like the digital and the physical are breathing together, and in that moment Tron: Ares tells you it wants to blur those boundaries.

Tron: Ares is a worthy resurrection of a beloved sci fi world. It does not reinvent Tron, but it expands it. The VFX are bold, the action sequences thrilling, and the performances compelling, especially Leto and Lee. The soundtrack lifts nearly every scene. Some story elements don’t land perfectly, but the ride is satisfying. I give it 7.5 out of 10.