After seeing Legacy myself now I'm a little bit torn apart - I guess I have to give it at least a second view to fully make up my mind. But still - here's some first thoughts on what has been one of the most awaited movies this year for me:
It's not bad.
So far so good.
On the other side it seems to me that it doesn't live up to it's full potential by far.
I'm not even talking about the story - which seems to have disappointed many people who already posted their reviews on the net, although they have some good points here and there. But to be frank: Even though I really *love* the original Tron I have no problem in admitting that it's story wasn't really Shakespeare either. ;) Actually it's truly silly when you think too much about it, but the way in which it is told makes you buy into it any way, if you let yourself go.
What after my first viewing of Legacy is mostly responsible for my opinion is the altogether atmosphere of the movie, most important the parts that take place inside the computer.
Tron had a very unique look that, to this day, is pretty much unique. I'm not talking about the computer graphics used in it which back then were a revolution. Actually many people today would be surprised how few of the scenes actually were done with the help of computers.
What is responsible for most of the look and feel of Tron's computerworld is a combination of techniques including painted backgrounds and perhaps most important the hand-coloured black and white footage shot of the actors.
This gave everything a grainy, unreal feeling which added a lot to making you belief that the story took place in a different kind of world.
Legacy - compared to that, looks *way* to clean and real for me in comparison.
Before you argue now that Legacy is taking place twenty years after Tron and that technology has advanced a lot since then - giving the grid better graphic-cards, perhaps... Remember that the Grid in Legacy is running on a computer that hasn't been touched since 1989 - pretty much a machine on the same level of development as the one in Tron.
They didn't even attempt to reproduce the original look, they simply changed it. Granted, there's still the glowing bits on the clothes, but that's pretty much it.
My advice is: If you're planning to see Tron Legacy you should have a look at the original movie first if you don't know it yet.
Take this as a little Christmas gift: Tron, the complete original movie - someone nice uploaded the complete movie in high quality to youtube and as long as it's there - enjoy! :)
