Pre- Read INFO– All The Tron movies focus on two opponent companies ENCOM and Dillinger Systems, and the plot of the First in the franchise Tron (1982) focuses on ENCOM genius and employee Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) getting stuck in the ENCOM grid. Ed Dillinger (David Warner) controls a Master Control Program (MCP) to essentially battle Flynn in the computer world The second movie of the trilogy, Tron: Legacy (2010) focuses on Kevin’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is drawn into the grid after Kevin having been missing for 28 years, Sam eventually finds his dad in the grid and also meets a corrupted program which cause problems for Sam and Kevin, ending in a Kevin being stuck in the grid.
Tron: Ares is the third movie in the Tron franchise despite being the third it can be watched as a standalone film because it doesn’t directly relate to the first two but it does take place in the same world and references the other two movies, while also introducing a new generation of characters.
Tron: Ares’s opening was on Oct. 10, 2025 in theaters, I watched it on Oct.16 in theaters. Tron: Ares is a PG:13 movie, and is directed by Norwegian director, Joachim Rønning. The Tron movies are known for the action, the suspense, and the pure awesomeness the movies portray.
The third movie; Tron: Ares, used an amazing soundtrack jam-packed with specially composed Nine Inch Nails music, made perfectly to fit the movie in every scene and sense. I feel like they couldn’t have picked a better, more perfect band to do the soundtrack than NIN themselves, NIN has always had that violent tension and suspenseful feeling to their songs, which is why it fits so well.
Tron: Ares isn’t just good because of the fantastic soundtrack but also the plot is amazing and starts with news reporters talking about Kevin Flynn being missing for like 25-30 years and how ENCOM has now fully been took over by sister/CO-Owner Eve Kim (Greta Lee) after her sister/ENCOM’s CO-Owner Tess Kim (Selene Yun) dies of cancer previously to the movies beginning. I really liked that they used a montage of different reporters and how that made the beginning of the movie so much more intense and really set the mood.
Eve Kim sets out to fulfill her sister’s goal of finding the permanence code which is probably the most important thing in the entire movie, it basically can turn any digital item into a real like object, while Eve sets out to find it. Which is really cool, I can’t imagine having something like that in our world. But not only is it cool but it’s dangerous.
Opponent/antagonist Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) is also searching for the real permanence code, Dillinger has his own sort of code but each digital item brought to life self-destructs after 29 minutes, which I think is kinda silly, but in the end it works out. then the digital codes just get sent back to the grid, which is where Ares comes in. Ares (Jared Leto) is a digital being and otherwise known as master control, who Dillinger designed to be human-like, smart, strong, and “the perfect, expendable soldier” says Dillinger. Which is so wrong.
Ares is so smart and strong and literally world changing, he can fight in the army, and is extremely smart and just to say he’s expendable is pretty insane but nonetheless, Ares overhears that he is expendable and this basically starts a thought in his brain, that makes him question Dillinger and Ares’s own existence. I love this. I love when a movie’s characters who aren’t really supposed to have feelings or opinions start developing them, it’s kinda a metaphor for how we should never be silenced by a higher power.
Later in the movie Ares and his other program “friend” Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) are directed by Dillinger to hack ENCOM and in the middle of that Ares sees old memories/footage of Eve Kim’s life and how she talks about digital beings and I think this is a huge turning point for Ares because he sees human emotion and sees how Eve doesn’t see digital people as expendable or as soldiers. Which in my opinion is the most significant part of the whole movie. The montage of the memories and footage was beautifully done and the emotion from when her sister died was beautiful and sad, and it was huge to see Ares’ reaction to something so real and so emotional. I think this was my favorite part of the whole movie, it was thoughtful and perfect as a way to show Ares inner emotion and feeling start to bubble up.
Then Ares is ordered to delete Eve which actually kills her which no one especially Dillinger seems to care about which I thought was actually insane. Just get the code from her brain but Ares disobeys Dillinger and has an intense but cut short conversation with Eve about her trusting him in which she says “probably not” (which later when he asks the same question she replies with the same probably not which i think is a great detail and great part of the script) and then an epic fight scene between Ares and Athena happens and Ares protects Eve and they fall through the floor while NIN plays in the background once again. Eve and Ares then make a run for it to get back to reality where Eve and Ares make a fast deal to help each other, whilst also getting chased which makes the scene so much more cooler,
Eventually they make it to reality and I’m not going to spoil the rest but I can say it is an amazing action packed movie for people with all different tastes in movies. The most is action packed, (which I can’t stress enough) the details are impeccable and just beautifully executed, the cast is just perfect along with the script and storyline, the emotion that Ares and Eve have and the connection (even though its platonic) was extremely strong and powerful they share so many special moments in the movie and they truly help each other not just with the problem at hand but personal things and I think that’s so important and well executed
I also said before that the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack couldn’t be more ideal for the movie, it fit every scene down to a T and had me on the edge of my seat. I also love that this movie can be watched standalone, but works well with the other movies.
The only thing I disliked was how fast everything was like the realms switching back and forth really fast and how no one thought it was weird for the first part of the movie that digital beings were attacking ENCOM and Eve, but otherwise I highly recommend the movie to everyone, I would also recommend watching for a bit after the credits so you’re sure not to miss the end credit scene which leaves room for a possible fourth movie, fingers crossed there’s another despite the underwhelming box office performance, even with the movie being amazing.
