When “Tron” was launched in 1982, home computing was barely growing. The Commodore 64, the Apple IIe, and the very first IBM devices were trickling out to fortunate families who might afford what was then curios. Most didn’t know what bits and bytes were, and the interior of these beige bricks, with their glowing screens, held secrets beyond our understanding. “Tron” provided these secrets a life of their own. It’s a goofy film, and it just gets goofier over time. Do Adobe programs get bullied on the Grid?
Jeff Bridges, absorbed into the secret world of innovation, is the best guy to narrate this story for us. He’s Flynn, an eccentric computer system genius who runs a game and plots revenge against Thieving Capitalist Bad Guy and his fancy Master Control Program computer system (both played by sci-fi category pleasure David Warner). Not only does Flynn win, but along the method, we enjoy the neon-lit world of the Grid. It’s a comfort food classic, but you may never ever look at your “Force Quit” or “Task Supervisor” alternatives the exact same way once again. Are we guillotining some digital guy whenever we struck it? Maybe, but the man keeps shooting up Steam on boot whether we want him to or not, so hey.