I'm still taking it in, but I left feeling a little disappointed. One one hand, this thing has been so long in coming that it might not be able to really live up to expectations, but I just didn't think it was as creative as the original. Clearly set up for a sequel (Dillinger's son on the board, TRON seemed to live after being "magically" redeemed), so maybe this was more of a set up? CLU didn't take the place of the MCP and Dillinger/Sark very well, seemed a little "Hollywood".
It wasn't bad, not saying that, just wasn't as deep as I'd like to have seen. Didn't live up to that first trailer for the movie that was so awesome.

Visual effects were just plain awesome, can't help but love to look at this movie.
Except maybe for "young" Bridges. Smiled too much or something, they could've done better with the expressions and voice sync I thought. Seemed more video game quality than movie quality.

Needed more Boxleitner & TRON too.

I'm sorry but I just dont get how Quorra (a computer program) can somehow end up existing in the flesh after going through the portal. I just dont see how the internal logic of the film could make that plausible.

3D really didn't help this movie. Interesting that they did try to do the Wizard of Oz transition, going from 2D to 3D like that movie did B&W to color, but it just didn't do anything. Really don't think it did much for it and won't be missed on a dvd release.

I do agree about the Phantom Menace syndrome, but at least Phantom had a killer first 15 minutes or so to start off. This movie...kind of started out not liking the son, being on the obnoxious side. With all the advanced fighting, a necessity for these days, you saw no reason for the guy to be able to keep up. TRON should've mopped the floor with him.

With all of the years, and surely scripts, they just could have done better. The original wasn't that cheesy at the time, and I watch it regularly and still enjoy it. We watched today before seeing this one. For 1982, it was still good sci fi, although things happened "conveniently" and quickly. It was still interesting and creative, even if it lacked in a lot of depth. This one lacked depth AND creativity. Funny the Matrix is brought up since I thought of that while seeing the movie. Matrix...awesome. The 2nd Matrix movie not even close. Just repeated a formula.
I didn't hate it by any means, just went into it expecting it to have depth that you should get now that was lacking in 1982. You have no doubt about the style the movie should have, being a sequel, but they should've made up for that lack of surprise with a good, deep story. It wasn't bad, it had the right elements, but they should have done a lot more with it than what seemed like an easy few plot turns.

At least we saw the really big door again. LOL

LOL Raw Kryptonite

I'd forgotten the really big door.

Apparently Kevin Flynns disc had the secret codes to make it possible for digital entities to exist in the real world. Although as said above it's not consistent with the logic for the first movie in which molecules are supposedly suspended in the beam. Bugged the hell out of me but no different I guess from having programs take the form of people that run around.

Bruce had a great reveal, voice from behind a fridge door.

Kinda want to go see it again now.

The old MCP would simply appropriate the laser and run it at will. No biggie. None of this mamby pamby "gotta use Flynn's disc" business. LOL

MCP > CLU

The reason Quorra was able to leave the digital world has to do with the fact that she was an ISO (or Isomorphic Algorithm), and not a program.

According to the movie, ISOs were created through a digital version of abiogenesis. That is, they were originally inanimate, but through what Kevin Flynn called "a miracle", developed life on their own.

Kevin Flynn didn't know how this happened - how the ISOs were created or how they developed true life. He just knew that they did. Thus, there were aspects of the ISOs which he did not understand. You can see him admit to this when he's repairing Quorra after the fight at the End of Line Club.

What Kevin Flynn did know, however, was that ISOs were like virtual humans that lived without disease or flaw. Thus, the basic concept that Kevin Flynn sacrificed his life for was that if he and Sam can get "in" to the Grid, Quorra (as an ISO) could get "out". And probably, by getting out, Quorra could better help humanity understand things like aging and illness.

This is all in stark contrast to programs, who were created and programed by users to handle user requests.

Yes, according to TRON lore, programs have developed AI (artificial intelligence). But I would strongly argue that this is only on the ENCOM-based system, like the one that Kevin Flynn hid in the basement of the arcade in 1983.

Remember, in the 1982 TRON, something happened which caused the MCP to move from a normal system management program into a true AI. And it would seem that this shift, perhaps like SKYNET in the Terminator movies, paved the way for the lesser programs under his control to move into the realm of AI also. Honestly, if you removed a program from the ENCOM/MCP system, I'm not entirely sure it would still be "alive" anymore. This is why Kevin needed to start with a copy of that specific system.

CLU2 may be different, however.

Because Kevin Flynn used some of his own data, from his identity disk, to create CLU2, CLU2 is more "alive" than any normal program would be. And it's possible that, like Quorra, he may have been able to get out of the digital world and into the real world. I say may, because even Kevin Flynn didn't really know what would happen if he crossed the portal. He just knew that CLU2 needed to be stopped.

However, even with this, CLU2 is still artificial. He is not alive in the same way that an ISO is - in the same way the Quorra is.

CLU2 and all other programs are only capable of doing what they're programed to do. And within Tron City and the Grid, CLU2 was programed by Kevin Flynn to seek out imperfection and eliminate it. And he did this to a fault, turning on his "master" and ignoring all logic in the pursuit of his programmed mission, just like HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Quorra, on the other hand, can learn and develop on her own. She can make choices, just like a real person can.

So, what would have happened if CLU2 was able to get out through the portal?

I'm not completely sure, and truthfully, it may not be important to the overall arch of the story.

What is important is that CLU2 attempted to take his mission into the real world, and that Kevin Flynn viewed CLU2 as a threat. Thus he needed to be stopped.

I sincerely doubt, however, that CLU2's army would have been able to manifest on the other side the way that Quorra did. CLU2 was doing what he thought he needed to, but as is evident by the ending, he was limited in his understanding of what that meant.

Perhaps leaving through the portal would have enabled CLU2's army to jump systems? Perhaps, they could have become a computer virus?

I think this is very much open to debate.

Loved the light cycle battle and the light dunebuggy. I didnt like how TRON was an evil faceless minion for CLU and there was no catalyst to explain his redemption.