@Filmbuff29 said:

Anyone agree?

I never saw it, whether as a kid back in '82 or since. I just looked at the trailer and what I don't like about the trailer is all it talks about is the visual spectacle of it, but doesn't tell us anything at all about the story.

And, if it's really just about the special effects...OMG! It's laughable. This movie cost $17M to make. Consider

• The Thing cost $15M
• ET cost $11M
• First Blood cost $15M
• Poltergeist cost $11M

There is no way $17M 1982 dollars should produce a movie that looks like this. It's so bad in the trailer it's a distraction. And, I'm willing to bet that people who were paying attention back in 1982 saw it, which might have factored into its poor box office performance, paying a paltry $1.92 in revenue for each budget dollar (while the raw target is 2x and the real target is 3x). There's no way someone who saw Alien in 1979 or The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 would look at this trailer and be impressed.

But, again, all of this is secondary, I admit that. I've never actually seen the movie itself. At some point, I may - at that point, I will circle back here to either confirm that the numbers don't lie, or recognize this as another good movie that is not reflected by box office (and, we do know that box office is not the best measure of the quality of a movie, and a 67% rating is pretty darned good, so it's not impossible that might be the case here).

Yeah, always loved Tron.

Rewatched it not too long ago in a double bill with Legacy which I always found fantastic. Pretty sad it never seemed to have made enough cash for Disney to invest in making a further sequel. Would really liked to have seen the story continue. Sadly we got the Star Wars sequels instead but that is another story...

It's hard to imagine now given the passage of time but the visuals really were mind blowing when the film came out. I guess this was back in the era of space invaders, so scenes like those with the light bikes seemed incredible. I don't know why but it seems stuck in my mind that this film and Supergirl always seemed to be on Sunday afternoon TV at one point in the 80s! I guess they sold the rights cheaply back then 😂.

A few things I notice, again, from the outside looking in as I've never watched either Tron nor Tron: Legacy:

• both are rated consistently decently, ~66%
• Tron: Legacy paid a better $2.35, which isn't stellar, but shows it had its audience. I think it's rating, 64%, held it back from hitting $3
• Hollywood was putting out a lot of sci-fi/fantasy (not the same genre at all, but that's for another discussion) in the late 70s (Logan's Run 1976, Battlestar Galactica 1978), all rating in and around that 68% area while doing middling numbers...but, somehow, Star Wars 1977 found the formula for whirlwind, zeitgeist success. (I deliberately omitted Close Encounters of the Third Kind because it's a different kind of movie from all these; it's in the "here and now" (in 1977) while all these others are "in a different time/place").

Video games being such a big part of my life as a kid (as they were for many) Tron was a dream come true for me. I loved it's concept and needless to say I watched it many, many times back then. It may have been a special effect movie but it wasn't just how good those effects looked but how unique they looked. The whole design from the outfits, the vehicles and the sets to the world itself just completely stood out and became ingrained in the memory of those who did see it. And watching it today it still looks unique.

Tron may not have been a breakout blockbuster hit at the time but in my world it always will be.

End of line.

I never saw it first time around and possibly not even as a kid. So as an adult I think its visually striking in the way it made the characters in the machine look pseudo real. The blocky computer graphics stand the test of time because the film is set in that era.

Plus with Bridges and Warner you are never going to go too far wrong. And heck, even plucky Boxleitner is a good fit for the concept. I quite liked Legacy too and will try to line up a back to back viewing as other have done. It's been so long since I saw it that I dont have a score. I imagine it'll be a healthy 6/10.