For a movie getting a lavish update, the original Tron’s been pretty quiet. There was talk of a Blu-Ray release earlier in the year, but it disappeared almost as soon as it was announced. Last week saw a pretty good guess as to why: it’s embarassing. The CGI is all neon grids and pre-Pixar geometry, the lost-in-a-computer storyline feels obsolete in an age of smartphones, and the live-action elements stick out like a forehead tattoo reading “1982.” An HD release would only emphasize the awful truth: this is how we thought computers worked back then.
Which is to say, it’s pretty fantastic—as long as you’re not the type to be embarrassed about the past.
