OVP: TRON (1982)

Film: Tron (1982)
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes, Dan Shor
Director: Steven Lisberger
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Costume and Sound Mixing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

There has to be a bit of a curve when judging special effects-laden films of the past.  Not every film can have the timeless panache of Star Wars or the inexplicably ageless effects of Jurassic Park; it's impossible to expect each film to equal that level of foresight in what will still be utilized in the future.  However, even if you discount the archaic, video game-inspired digital work on display in this cult classic, much-lampooned Steven Lisberger film, you cannot excuse the expositional dialogue and the rudimentary, two-dimensional acting on display.

(Spoilers ahead) The film tells the tale of a hacker named Kevin Flynn (Bridges) who is trying to recover proof that he created a series of successful video games, which the increasingly out-of-control Dillinger (Warner) has stolen credit for, and is now guarding through the Master Control Program.  Flynn enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend (a love triangle that remains largely uncommented upon throughout the film, despite her having the "winner's kiss" with both of them at some point during the film).  Together, the three of them attempt to hack into the Master Control Program, only to have Flynn find himself in the actual world of the computer programs.

The film shows Flynn, still played by Bridges, encounter different computer programs (all taking on human form), and having to fight them in a gladiator style form of combat.  Once he eventually escapes from his masters (with two other fighters, including Tron, played by Boxleitner in a doppelganger moment that is mimicked multiple times throughout the film), he sets out to destroy the Master Control Program, and eventually succeeds, saving the day, kissing the girl, and going back to the real world with successful credit for his work.

The film is at its best whenever it focuses on the charming, affable Bridges.  Bridges, 32 when this was made but looking eight years younger, plays like an effortlessly beautiful, less ornery Harrison Ford when he wanted to be, and despite never taking off in the matinee style that Ford did (though really, few actors in film history took off like Ford did during this time period), his charm and confidence oozes across the screen, particularly since the rest of his cast members seem to constantly be forgetting their lines (the time delays may have had to do with the visual effects holding them up in the computer world, but the issue also lies in the real-life scenes, so there's really no excuse).  The rest of the cast is so bad you have trouble believing that this wasn't a highly-stylized student film and not a major-budget film funded by Disney.

The script is also grossly dated.  It's already at a hindrance with the focus on soon to be obsolete technologies, but add to that a series of "I'm doing this" sort of dialogue and a plot that seems to have been written directly from the brainstorming session of the writing room without actually killing any ideas(what was with the random allusions to the Pentagon and the Kremlin if for no other reason that it's the Cold War-this plot doesn't go anywhere outside that scene?), and you have a clunker.

The film received a pair of Oscar nominations, and almost certainly would have scored a third had its Visual Effects been eligible (oddly enough, they were deemed ineligible for using CGI, which would become a mainstay of that category in years to come).  The Costume design is a give-and-take, as the costumes would go on to be relatively iconic, but they're also all variations on the same suit, and so it's hard to give them a trophy for just one look.  The other nomination, Sound Mixing, seems like one of those cursory nominations they throw at a film that's special effects laden, but again, there's little to crow about in the Sound design, and comparing it to films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones which became part of the filmic landscape during the same era makes Tron fall short.

But what are your thoughts?  I'm about to head into the sequel (both are OVP films, and so I figured they'd make a good double feature even if I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect of the second one based on my initial reaction to the first).  Are you a Tron fanatic, or do you not get the many (many) allusions Seth MacFarlane has made to this film over the years?  And do you agree that it likely would have been nominated had it been eligible for the Visual Effects Oscar?