Ok. So Tron: Legacy is definitely 3 things: Shiny, Daft Punked and 3D. Let's deal with them in order.
Shiny: The visual esthetic on the grid is really cool. All blue orange and black. And as I said, shiny. You can tell that Kosinski made his name doing car commercials. Everything is sleek and beautiful and well shot. Visually I was very impressed. Kosinski also manages something that few directors (*cough* Nolan *cough*) do well any more: linear action sequences. Because (I think) of his car background, he knows how to follow the action and keep it in focus. Each moment can actually be processed instead of using the tactic of overwhelming the audience with fast-pan fast-cut tactics. I love that about this movie. Laser disc battles and lightcycle battles (and whatever fancy name they had for the planes) they're all cool and multidimesional and followable. There is lacking however a real sense of peril that accompanied the 1982 original. The consequences don't seem as real.
Daft Punked: Daft Punk is obviously one of the great musical groups of the 21st Century, and their driving strings and electronic beats definitely add a great atmosphere to the world of The Grid. The best musical moments are reserved for the club scene (where our french friends are cameoing as DJs) where it actually feels like it's Daft Punk, not just strings and beats. My other favourite musical moment was a faded, through the walls version of Eurythmix' "Sweet Dreams." Nothing was altered except it feels really far off which adds a level of menace and suspense to the nostalgia.
3D: I despise 3D movies. They're more expensive, they're less clear, and they're just annoying. This film was blessedly shot in 2D for the real world shots so I could take my glasses off for part of it. But it's a lame gimmick.
So, visually and musically impressive...how about plot and characters? Ya, not much really. Jeff Bridges is hard to screw up, and he didn't really, but it wasn't amazing. The best moments were his more "Dude"like moments of "Radical" - Best line: You're really screwing with my whole Zen thing, man! The pretty boy, Garrett Hedlund, wasn't terrible, but didn't have much character. The whole time I kept thinking...Chris Pine (a la Star Trek) was sooo much better (very similar roles.) The potential love interest (Olivia Wilde) was indeed cute, and her naivite/badassness made a charming dichotomy, but she was kind of shallow (she is after all computer DNA). It is nice to have a cute heroine who doesn't have to bend over a bike or a car to be enticing (Megan Fox?).
The best scene in the entire film is that with Zeus. Michael Sheen is a brilliant actor who I have admired in many films: The Queen and Frost Vs Nixon stand out. And he lights up an already fluorescent film with his great character - definitely channeling some Bowie.
One last disappointment: Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow in Batman Begins and Robert Fischer in Inception) is another great actor who will no doubt be a bigger deal in the impending sequel, however it was disapointing to have only about 4 lines from him in this film (though awesome to seem him sporting some Colin Meloy hair.)
The plot is fairly weak, and the characters weaker (which is crazy coz three of them are Jeff Bridges), but there are some great visual moments and Michael Sheen saves the day. Over all I kind of felt like I did back in elementary school when I'd go over to a friends house and he would play video games and I would watch. It's cool, but I'd rather play.
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