After a lengthy wait outside the screening auditorium, we were let in and given a free "FLYNN LIVES" t-shirt. Even after feeling slightly drained having been left standing for 40 minutes in a hot foyer, there was a still a sense of excitement as to what lay ahead. I can't imagine that anyone expected it to be simply a 2 minute trailer. But that's what it was.
I imagine the trailer will pop up online soon enough so here's a basic summary by Frosty from Collider:
"Essentially, the teaser started with Bruce Boxleitner talking to Jeff Bridges' son Sam, played by Garret Hedlund, about his father, some footage of Sam doing some stunts on a motorcycle in the real world, before pulling up to the abandoned Flynn’s Arcade, going inside, uncovering the Tron arcade game and finding the hidden room behind it.
The Tron world footage included a nice introduction shot to Olivia Wilde’s character, Quorra with a brief bit of a Disc fight with Sam, a quick look at Michael Sheen’s character, and it ends with a light cycle chase that ends in one of bikes smashing into digital bits."
Now for some of my thoughts. There was a palpable disappointment in the audience when the trailer finished, despite the fact that it was pretty great. You don't make hundreds of people wait for an extended period of time and then not let them know that (just) a short trailer would be shown. And not even repeated! Unless you were at the LA event where the lucky sods got to see it twice and have a Q&A session.
There is some exposition so we finally know a bit more about 'Tron Legacy' - Flynn's son Sam enters the Tron world to find his Dad. Or something. The real highlight were the fantastic visuals with the glimpses of the computer world being particularly interesting. And the Disc fight and Light Cycle footage looked pretty amazing. The 3D wasn't in your face but added a nuanced atmosphere to the footage. Hopefully the same will be said about the Daft Punk soundtrack, which didn't play an overt role in the trailer we saw. Overall, a good trailer but a terribly disappointing viral event.
If you fancy reading more indepth thoughts, head to Ain't It Cool News.
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