Tron Ares Review- Disney’s 2025 Glow-Up Fails to Spark

Despite releasing high-profile films like Lilo and Stitch live-action remake (2025) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Disney has struggled to make a significant impact in 2025.

That said, there are still two months left, and one of the studio’s most heavily promoted films is yet to arrive — Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025). However, our Tron Ares review tells a different story about Disney’s current streak.

Plot details of Tron: Ares (2025)​

Tron: Ares, released 15 years after Tron: Legacy, is a standalone sequel. Ares (played by Jared Leto), an advanced program, is sent from the Grid to Earth on a dangerous mission. 

This Earth-based story differs from Legacy, which followed a boy entering the digital world seeking his father. 

Tron: Ares gives a peek into OUR world, where the collision of the digital and physical worlds results in enigmatic lightcycles and a full cinematic aura that surely asks for a theatrical experience.​

Watch the trailer to get a glimpse: 

Actors’ performances in Tron: Ares (2025)

Jared Leto as Ares was fantastic. He perfectly embodied a god-like digital presence that the Tron universe demands. Without any emotions or feelings, he showed that he ‘felt’ something, which is completely unlike any computer program.

He was the ‘master control’ who balanced arrogance and vulnerability with precision. He did not fulfill his master’s orders, which was oddly human beneath the code. His performance exhibited a commanding force in a world of neon chaos.

Greta Lee as Eve Kim was impressive as her name rang all the bells right for the film’s character suitability. Her name stands in contrast to the Biblical Eve, who took the forbidden fruit and led both herself and Adam out of paradise. ​

Here, Eve was determined to use the successful Permanence code and did not want to give it to the wrong hands. Ares respected her decision and helped her, and in return, she helped Ares, too.   

Jodie Turner-Smith as Athena was a sadistic force that seemed almost impossible to fight. We knew that she would keep coming back until she fulfilled her command from Julian (Evan Peters). She was scary, and that was the best part about her performance.

Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn role was limited, but served as a major connection between Legacy and Ares. His character carries the emotional weight of the franchise’s legacy, reminding the audience of the human spirit that defined the Grid. 

Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger and The X-Files sensation, Gillian Anderson as Elisabeth Dillinger, were stirring as well.  

What do critics add to Tron Ares review?​

The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes does not approve much of Tron: Ares. Here’s what it says, ​

“A sensory feast of vivid neon hues and a hypnotic soundtrack, Tron: Ares is gorgeous to behold but too narratively programmatic to achieve an authentically human dimension.” [Source]​

The critics are of the view that, despite great visuals and hypnotic soundtracks, there is “absolutely nothing new”. Emotional depth is missing, and the story is weak. The trailer promised something big, but came out as a “horrifically misguided cash grab”. 

Even if we look back at the previous releases of the Tron franchise, Ares didn’t change anything.  

	Director	IMDb	Rotten Tomatoes
Tron (1982)	Steven Lisberger	6.7	60%
Tron: Legacy (2010)	Joseph Kosinski	6.8	51%
Tron: Ares (2025)	Joachim Ronning	6.6	53%

Fans’ reaction

​Although the audience rating is a bit higher than that of the critics, the reviews remain the same. Fans think that the film gives an “impressive presentation,” but the story is merely average. ​

A few believed that it was a bad “rehash” of the previous films, and the filmmakers should have learned from the mistakes the previous films made. There were “very simple reasons” that those films didn’t make it, and only the cinematically dazzling visuals weren’t enough to save Ares this time. 

Is it worth watching?

The digital energy infiltrating into the real world looks appealing, and is certainly true to some extent, as artificial intelligence has successfully done so. Have you seen the AI bots serving food in several restaurants in certain parts of the world?

This visually striking sci-fi film talks about the narratives of AI, characters of digital reality, machines, the real world, hackers, simulations, and human impact. The immersive visuals aimed to give the view of the world from the eyes of a computer program, which Ares did beautifully.​

However, the story lacked depth. Aesthetically pleasing visuals and an electrifying Nine Inch Nails soundtrack aren’t enough to help the film maintain a longer stay at the theaters. It needs a distinct energy and overpowering vibe that the script people did not play around with much.​

Despite giving a strong message at the end that the programs should be handled carefully and the keys should be operated by the right person, the dominance of tech on our lives remains inevitable.​

Still, with the muscular action scenes that gave hints of The Matrix, Terminator, and Ex-Machina here and there, the film did not present us with anything of its own that could have been unforgettable. ​

I’m not blaming Ronning’s direction, which did brilliantly well in terms of dynamic visuals and the high-speed freeway chase on the real-world roads inside the Grid, Disney’s future regarding the Tron franchise will remain unclear, as it has never been a blockbuster franchise.

Considering the performance of its predecessor, Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy, Tron: Ares could have been a chart-topper — especially since Kosinski proved his directorial brilliance again with this year’s F1 movie. There’s still so much potential left to explore in this digital world, and hopefully, the budget will be used more effectively if a sequel is ever planned.

What we liked

• Jared Leto’s performance
• Greta Lee and Jeff Bridges’ presence
• Gorgeously rendered visuals
• Nine Inch Nails soundtrack
• Action sequences 

What could be better

• Weak storytelling
• Predictable structure
• Limited character development
• Overreliance on visuals
• Missed potential

Here’s a detailed breakdown of our rating for Tron: Ares (2025)

Story/plot	5/10
Characters and acting	5/10
Direction and pacing	5/10
Visuals and cinematography	9/10
Soundtrack/score	9/10
Themes and message	5/10
Emotional impact	5/10
Creativity/originality	6/10
Rewatchability	2/10

​Our rating: 5.5

 

 

 

 

 

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Is Tron: Ares (2025) available for streaming?

Walt Disney Pictures is currently distributing Tron: Ares (2025) (PG-13) in theatres only and is not available for online streaming, but is expected to come to Disney+ in January.

Genre: Cyberpunk, action, adventure, sci-fi

IMDb rating: 6.6

Rotten Tomatoes: 53 percent on Tomatometer (critics’ score) and 86 percent on Popcornmeter

Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Sarah Desjardins, Jodie Turner-Smith, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges, Evan Peters

Director: Joachim Ronning

Writers: Jesse Wigutow, Jack Thorne, Steven Lisberger

Producers:  Sean Bailey, Jared Leto, Steven Lisberger, Emma Ludbrook, Jeffrey Silver, Justin Springer 

Release date: October 10, 2025

Movie runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes 

Agree or disagree with our Tron: Ares review? Join the discussion in the comments.