Minor Spoilers for Tron: Ares.
On Friday, October 10, 2025, Disney’s Tron: Ares was released nationwide, receiving contrasting reviews and a lackluster Box Office performance.
Tron: Ares follows the AI program, Ares, and his companion, Athena, as they are sent on a mission to retrieve the permanence code from rival ENCOM CEO Eve Kim. This code would give AI a permanent physical form, a feature sought after by its creator, Julian Dillinger of Dillinger Industries. As Ares slowly begins to question his directives, he turns against his creator and companion in a quest to make a life of his own.
First off, Tron: Ares is visually spectacular. The VFX is something to behold, with little to no nitpicks in sight. The film also utilizes impressive practical effects, some even commonly mistaken as VFX! The creative combination of Tron mechanics—Such as the iconic light cycles—with the real world truly shows the amount of thought the creators put into Tron’s world. Not to mention, a creative sequence involving the original 1980s Tron world proved to be a pleasant surprise, along with the return of Kevin Flynn, played once again by Jeff Bridges.
Regardless of your knowledge of the Tron world, this film provides enough information to learn about it easily, and it generated a genuine interest in me in watching previous franchise installments. On the acting side, Evan Peters and Jodie Turner-Smith delight with standout performances. Then, of course, there’s the soundtrack, provided by Nine Inch Nails, which blends in fluidly with the film and remains a favorite component among viewers.
Despite all of this, Tron: Ares is far from perfect. The film’s exposition was very in-your-face and occurred annoyingly often. And the reasoning for Ares’ sudden change of heart felt unearned and sort of silly. Why would only he be affected, and not any other Dillinger AI? The film also doesn’t have much to say about AI beyond a surface level, only, “If it falls into the wrong hands, we could be doomed”. However, according to Joachim Rønning, the director, the film was trying to focus more on the heart of the story, rather than the spectacle.
“It’s what I’ve been really working hard to give it,” Rønning said in a Q&A with D23.
Rønning went on to say, “The film is about Ares, who ventures out into the “real world” and, in many ways, wants to become real—and has to learn what it means and what it takes to be human…it doesn’t work if you don’t feel it; if you don’t feel for the characters. So that’s been my number one priority”.
While the attempt to make that heart come through is visible at several points in the film, it sadly doesn’t quite reach the heights it could’ve.
While it seems that the film is flopping at the box office, it is important to note the negative effect that Jared Leto’s reputation may have had on this film. Leto’s acting tactics and behavior are extremely controversial. They tend to turn people off from seeing projects he’s involved in, such as Suicide Squad (2016), Morbius, and Blade Runner 2049. However, it is not likely that Letto killed Tron: Ares, at least not entirely. Past projects that he was also blamed for flopping were either too niche for casual audiences or already poorly written outside of the controversy surrounding Leto.
In the end, I rated Tron: Ares 3/5 stars. The film isn’t much more than a spectacle, but it leads to a great viewing experience. That being said, the emotional heart did not fall completely flat; it simply didn’t live up to its potential. Letterboxd user the uzhi/marix spot encapsulated my feeling about the film in their review.
“The usual weaknesses of these films: a painfully average script and more of the same skin. Still, the story is passable with some interesting ideas, and its cast…deliver with the thin material they have. People hate Jared Leto, but…despite his lack of charisma, he plays his role appropriately,” they said.
