A few personal highlights. Daft Punk not only did the soundtrack but also appeared in the movie as DJs. They didn't need much of a wardrobe change from their usual space helmet getup.
Jeff Bridges had a few moments that sounded like a reprise of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. I saw one reviewer who felt it was distracting but I thought it made for some of the funniest lines in the movie. "You're messing up my zen, man!"
Of course the special effects were amazing, but like any good sci-fi, it has a social message as well. It's anti-authoritarian theme condemned both corporate greed and the fundamentally foolish, dictatorial nature of any attempt to create a Utopian society. The misguided villain of the movie could have easily represented George Bush's ambitions to reshape Iraq or Mao's attempt to mold China. I would call it vaguely anarchist or even Alinsky-ite.
The conflict between Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and his son is the struggle between every new generation of activists as they push their parents to do more. It's the wisdom of age versus the impatience of youth. Complacency against hope. The established order being challenged by dramatic upheaval.
That conflict is approached in a way that's relevant to our time. The parents' generation isn't presented as clueless squares wagging their finger at the hippies as they might have in a boomer-era movie. Jeff Bridges is the perfect actor to play a former-hippie whose adult child is now messing up his zen and pushing him to be more proactive about fixing his mistakes. It's the story of a young adult who discovers he's ready for new responsibility, and a parent whose ready to work with his son before passing the baton.
Tron Legacy may be the first movie to politically describe Gen Y, who came of age learning that rulers must be questioned, and are now trying to make change with a President who promises to move beyond the old political grudges of the boomer generation. It's one of the best movies of the year, and not merely for its special effects.
Or, I may be reading too much into it. It's a fun flick either way.