Home Featured Content

When Is It Too Late For A Movie Sequel?

They say that late is better than never, but are those really words to live by when it comes to movie sequels? Hollywood studios are currently in a deep phase of mining existing properties for new material and, though this might seem like risk-averse behaviour at first glance, it really is a sizeable gamble.

TRON: Legacy (2010)

Recommended Videos

Twenty eight years after the writer-director Steven Lisberger’s TRON blew our 1982-era minds – with its special effects, and virtual reality-based plot – director Joseph Kosinski took us back inside this digital world. The original story told of computer genius Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who designed the virtual reality game and had adventures inside of it. On its release, TRON was an astonishing feat of imaginative filmmaking and was far ahead of its time. It was soon embraced as something of a classic, and remained a favourite of a whole generation of audiences.

The late sequel surprised detractors by actually succeeding in its goals of returning to the gaming grid, within the natural timeline, and furthering the story in a coherent and compelling way. Using the 28 year gap between chapters as a plot point, TRON: Legacy focuses on Flynn’s son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund). Sam has lost some direction in his life since his father disappeared during Sam’s childhood, but when he finally finds access to the gaming grid that his father seems to have vanished into, Sam sees his chance to locate him and reconnect.

Once inside the grid, Sam finds a society under the oppressive rule of CLU – the program his father created in his own likeness, which has now gone rogue. Sam must fight his way through brutal gladiatorial-style games before he finds his actual father – with the help of warrior program Quorra (Olivia Wilde). The three eventually work together to rid the grid of the CLU dictatorship.

TRON: Legacy works as a sequel by embracing the tone of the first film while modernizing it with state-of-the-art updates to the iconic production design. The legendary light-cycles are back, as are the outlined costumes – they just look much more awesome. Switching the focus to the now adult son of Kevin Flynn means the potential for further plot twists is available, while we still have the benefit of Jeff Bridges reprising his role as both virtual world designer Kevin, and his grid ambassador CLU. In the final analysis, expectations were mixed when TRON: Legacy was announced – with many sceptical of the wisdom involved in re-visiting a movie that had not aged well. In its execution, however, the film far exceeded all expectations and proved sceptics wrong.