TRON

TRON (1982)

  • 70% of critics liked it
    (46 reviews)

  • 66% of users liked it
    (66,105 ratings)

One of the earliest feature films to reflect the video-game craze of the 1980s, Disney's Tron stars Jeff Bridges as computer programmer Kevin Flynn, who becomes part of the very game that he's programming. Flynn's principal antagonist is his glory-grabbing boss, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), who… More

PG, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By
Steven Lisberger
Genres
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
In Theaters
Jul 9, 1982 Wide
On DVD
Jan 15, 2002
Buena Vista Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

    For most people, TRON's importance is as a historical footnote. It's the Model T of our CGI age. But the film's fans are passionate ones.

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    It's a simple idea that ought to serve, but Lisberger's failures of pacing, structure, variation, and characterization ultimately make the film seem monotonous and distant.

  • , Variety

    Tron is loaded with visual delights but falls way short of the mark in story and viewer involvement.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    A dazzling movie from Walt Disney in which computers have been used to make themselves romantic and glamorous. Here's a technological sound-and-light show that is sensational and brainy, stylish, and fun.

  • Janet Maslin, New York Times

    Its computer sequences exist in a blue-gray scheme filled with flashing lights, speeding objects and dizzying motion. Its visual effects are wonderfully new. They are also numbing after a while.

Read all 20 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Matheus C


    It plays like an early 1980s EPCOT Center ride: visionary in an innocent way, charmingly retro, visually stunning in parts but also overstays its welcome and becomes an unexciting bore.

  • Eric A


    I'm sure this movie was awesome and groundbreaking in 1982, but having seen it in 2010 right before the new one, it seems very cheesy. Who knows, in 30 years the new Tron might look cheesy? All in all though, good idea for a movie and some descent acting.

  • Jacob E


    Yeah... This movie... Really isn't that good. Like, at all. It doesn't even really have the heart that some 80s films manage to exist from (like "Labyrinth"). The only thing this film has going for it are the special effects. The effects were revolutionary at the… More

  • Alexander D


    TRON was amazing.

  • Mike S


    Looks really dated by now, but considering it was made in 1982, the special effects are quite impressive for their time. I'm sure audiences back then were just as amazed by its visuals as we are currently by its sequel. This has a somewhat better script, but overall I like Legacy… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

Cast

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