43 years after the groundbreaking Tron was released and 15 years after Tron: Legacy, we return to the Grid with the latest installment Tron: Ares. Director Joachim Ronning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) attempts to recapture the magic of the first film.

Ares follows to tech companies on the edge of making a discovery that will change the world as we know it. Encom CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is looking for the Kevin Flynn’s permanence code that will help digital creations from the grid survive in the real world. Eve wants to use the code to create food and resources to end hunger around the globe. Dillinger Systems CEO Julian (Evan Peters) is in search of the code as well, but he wants to use it to sell soldiers and military weapons from the grid to world leaders. Without the permanence code, the digital army can only last in the real world for 29 minutes. After showcasing his digital army to potential buyers, Dillinger deploys Ares (Jared Leto), the ultimate cyber security program, to find Eve and retrieve the permanence code.

What really works for Ares should be no surprise – the visuals and the soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails. If you want to see light cycles, badass light suits, and fight sequences that look like a violent Daft Punk video, you’re in for a treat. The Nine Inch Nails score incredible. The hard synth sounds blend perfectly with dazzling visual effects and frenetic fight sequences.

The performances are fine. Greta Lee is an amazing actor but feels criminally underused in this film. Not allowing for a monologue about humanity or why she wants to crate resources for the world is a missed opportunity. Leto is perfect as an AI having feeling and sensations for the first time. His character spends most of the film looking confused, making awkward conversation, and spewing his love for Depeche Mode. What would’ve been nice is Ares giving a reason he wants to be human. Why is his character doing all of this? What makes Ares different than Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith)? What is his motivation?

The screenplay by Jesse Wigutow misses an opportunity to discuss what it means to be human. FX’s series Alien Earth does a great job laying out what it means to be human from the perspective of humans, aliens, and A.I. With two foundational films, it’s disappointing the script couldn’t bother updating humanities relationship to technology by tackling issues like corporate greed and A.I misinformation that’s spreading like wildfire.

The action in Ares is pretty good. Showing a cyber attack via a fight sequence was imaginative and one of the highlights of the film. The film could’ve used more creativity like that sequence. The big action sequences in the third act are another “big bad things in a major city” that we’ve seen countless times. We saw it in theaters this year with Fantastic Four: First Steps, Superman, and Captain America: Brave New World. The sequences are visually stunning; however, they’re unoriginal and unimaginative.

Tron: Ares is a beautiful film with not much else to offer. The visuals, action, and badass soundtrack are enough to make Ares an entertaining time but not enough to sustain the film. It’s fun but ultimately forgettable. With the current state of A.I in the world, the film could’ve been more but settled on being more flash than substance.

Grade: C