The Future is Now… again: TRON Legacy trailer, Storyline, & Concept Art

Last Monday, I attended the Seattle stop of Lebowski Fest.  Just prior to the screening of the Coen Bros. classic, The Big Lebowski, there was a special video clip of Jeff Bridges apologizing for his inability to attend the function.  Among the reasons given for his absence was that he was busy with other responsibilities.  Not mentioned was the fact that he had better things to do than get creeped out in a warehouse full of geeks, who were dressed in impersonation of a character that he played over a decade ago.  During this brief clip, Bridges placed his old helmet on to his head from his role in TRON, signaling his reprisal of the role as Kevin Flynn in the upcoming TRON sequel.  Like I said, he’s got better things to do; things like hanging out at the San Diego Comic-Con with people dressed like a character that he played 27 years ago.

Comic-Con has grown to be more than just the biggest comic convention of all time.  It has also become a star-studded event, which presents previews of the latest upcoming Hollywood projects in production.  Tron Legacy is one film that was heavily featured at the event this weekend, complete with a cast panel, trailer viewing and concept art.  Take a look at the VFX test trailer now and see what you think for yourself:

[youtube width=”600″ height=”486″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1IpPpB3iWI[/youtube]

{This video effects test trailer and following plot-line rundown is via the texinsf}

“Tron Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.“

Yep, it’s in 3D!  Although the original film was released in 1982 as a Disney film, something about the Disney name on this sequel still bothers me.  I don’t have kids and I’m not the type of person that would prefer to sit around and watch Ice Age or The Incredibles over a Harmony Korine or P.T. Anderson film.  I like my Sci-Fi like Blade Runner, with violence, scantily dressed futuristic skanks, and the possiblity of seeing someone’s eye sockets raped by Rutger Hauer‘s sheer thumb power.  I’m into this though, and I think that I may actually make the effort to go see this one in the theater, but I still think that I’d be a little more confident if they had used the Touchstone label instead.  Then again, I don’t really understand the rating system anymore and, in this dage and age, a children’s film may just involve everything that I’ve previously mentioned.

A site called Tronsector.com has been providing regular updates about the project and they feature a lot of concept art images in their forum, especially.  This video below was created by one of the site’s administrators that goes by the name Mr. Sinister.  It is slideshow compilation of images from the “concept art and of the Tron Legacy cast and crew panel at Comic Con ’09.” His Youtube profile also provides the following information:

Music: Outrun by Thomas Bangalter (one-half of Daft Punk, who will be writing the score to Tron Legacy)

Sound effects by Frank Serafine, who did the original sound effects for the first Tron movie.

New vehicles include the light cycle, recognizer, and light runner.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_oBZcdz-UE&NR=1[/youtube]

And here’s even more Comic-Con TRON footage with the new soundtrack

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrew4XtbjrU[/youtube]

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.