Tron: Legacy (2010) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

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Greetings, programs!

Before we dive into this review, there's one thing you need to know - I unashamedly love Tron: Legacy. Not necessarily in the same way that I love, say, Back to the Future or The Godfather (by account of most sane movie reviewers, fine mainstream examples of near-perfect films), but viewed through the prism as a 'film experience', it's a tough one to beat.

Following the events of the original Tron, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) becomes trapped in the electronic world of the Grid after his digital alter ego Clu turns against him, separated from the real world and his young son, Sam (played as an adult by Garrett Hedlund). After a well-meaning tip off from Flynn's friend Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner), Sam becomes drawn into the digital world where he too will need to fight for his survival - and his escape.

In many ways superior to the original film (and not just in terms of the obvious improvements in visual effects) Tron: Legacy is one of the most awe-inspiring, entertaining, and immersive cinema experiences I've ever enjoyed. Taking the core concept of the original Tron and pairing it with CG visuals that the original artists could only have dreamed of, plus a barnstorming score from electronic legends Daft Punk, has created a singular experience unmatched in cinema history and stands alone 15 years after its original release.

Sadly, Tron: Legacy fell short of Disney's unrealistically high expectations (a fate eerily similar to its predecessor, even though this did find success at the box office), which shelved plans for sequels in favour of pushing deeper into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars franchises. Fifteen years on, Disney is seeking another attempt with the upcoming Tron: Ares and whilst it's incredibly doubtful Legacy can be topped, I'm nonetheless fascinated to see where this oddball would-be franchise goes next.

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Video

Tron: Legacy is presented in a varying widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and 2.39:1 in the Rec. 2020 color space, finished with dynamic Dolby Vision and static HDR-10 high dynamic range formats and encoded with AVC H.265 compression.

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Originally designed as a poster child for Digital 3D and IMAX systems and lensed with the Cameron/ Pace 3D camera system before being finalised in a 2K digital intermediate, this 4K presentation is an upscale from the source, but nonetheless manages to make many improvements over previous presentations, which places it firmly in the 'upgrade' basket. This includes some subtle enhancements to the color grade and general image stability and sharpness.

But the main upgrades are reserved - unsurprisingly - for the format's ability to properly resolve Wide Colour Gamut and High Dynamic Range, which were made precisely for films like this. Suffice to say, if you have a modern LCD or OLED that can reproduce a high nit rate, you are in for a treat - even more so if you can display Dolby Vision natively.

The presentation does fall short of perfection at times, notably some borderline egregious sharpening that has been applied to the opening real-world sequence, either for this edition or baked into the master. Either way, it wasn't quite as jarring in previous home video or IMAX presentations, so it does stand out. Whilst some may be disappointed that there haven't been any enhancements to the digital de-aging, I think that was best left alone.

Ultimately, this is an eye-meltingly good presentation that is going to please many.

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Audio

Tron: Legacy is presented in a newly remixed Dolby Atmos object-based container.

The film's DTS HD-MA 7.1 track on Blu-ray has always been a demo favourite, so the promise of a new height surround mix here was rather tantalising, so long as Disney didn't reduce the terrifying levels of bass or surround aggressiveness.

The good news is that Disney hasn't dumbed anything down here. Everything that made the original mix great has been retained in totality. Unfortunately, the hyped Dolby Atmos mix is ultimately a fizzer, with the height surrounds rarely contributing much of anything - even with scenes like the Grid Games and the climactic battle, which would seem to be tailor-made for the format. Naturally, this begs the question of why even do it at all?

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I'm not really sure what I can say about the score by Daft Punk that hasn't already been said, other than to reiterate my shock as to why it didn't win an Academy Award for Best Original Score (it wasn't even nominated!) In short, their music elevates everything, perfectly complementing the eye-popping visuals for a pure synesthesia experience.

At the end of the day, if you take the view that what we have here is essentially a straight-up port of the previous mix, then there really shouldn't be any cause for disappointment. The sound engineers really gave it their all, and 15 years on, the mix has lost none of its potency.

Extras

As with the original Tron, there's no new bonus features to be found on the 4K here (not even a trailer for the upcoming Tron: Ares), which is frankly a disappointment. An audio commentary from Director Joseph Kosinski would have been great, as would the ability to hear Daft Punk's soundtrack as an isolated score. However, Disney has packed in a copy of the 2011 Blu-ray, which at least preserves the bonuses from that edition. Let's jump in.

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The bulk of the extras are made up of several brief featurettes, including The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed which looks at the viral advertising generated to create interest in the whereabouts of Kevin Flynn, Launching the Legacy briefly discusses how the film came about, with particular emphasis on the test trailer produced for Comic Con 2008 that convinced the studio to move ahead with the film.

Installing the Cast takes a look at the actors and what convinced them to jump aboard the film, while Visualising Tron is a surprisingly meaty look at the film's pioneering visual effects, despite its brief runtime, including a look at the Jeff Bridges de-aging tech. Disc Roars features an excerpt from the cast and crew panel at Comic Con 2009, which includes an audience participation element that later featured in the final film.

Finally, we have the First Look at Tron: Uprising teaser (presented in HD) for the animated spin-off series, which can be found these days on Disney Plus, and the Derezzed music video featuring the helmeted Daft Punk lads.