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Preview review: Jeff Bridges ditches the cowboy hat for ‘Tron: Legacy’

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In the newly released trailer for December’s ‘Tron: Legacy,’ the long-awaited sequel to the 1982 cult classic, it’s at first a bit jarring to see Jeff Bridges in such a fast-paced, futuristic setting. Bridges has, after all, spent the past few months on the awards circuit inhabiting the laid-back cowboy attitude of ‘Crazy Heart’s’ Bad Blake.

But once you get past that, you get the sense that the movie is a fanboy’s dream, with a world that will look pretty fantastic in 3-D, what with hi-tech Recognizer vehicles, neon game-warrior suits and, of course, the beloved Bridges.

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In the trailer, we’re immediately introduced to newcomer Garrett Hedlund, a.k.a. Sam Flynn, the son of computer programmer Kevin Flynn, the protagonist from the first film and a role that Bridges reprises here. Sam is told by old ‘Tron’ pro Alan Bradley that some new information about his father, who disappeared 25 years ago into the digital world of Tron, has surfaced. He hops on his Ducati and heads over to Flynn’s arcade, whose many games are now covered in dusty cobwebs and plastic tarps.

What he uncovers there catapults him into Tron, a dark, ominous world with menacing skies and neon lights where he will be reunited with his father and try to save him from the Tron program. (For a deeper analysis, check out this awesome play-by-play on our sister blog Hero Complex.)

Over the weekend at the Indie Spirit Awards, Olivia Wilde -- who plays Sam’s friend Quorra in the film -- told us that though the sequel seems like a big-budget adventure flick, many fans don’t realize that the original film was seen as risky.

‘’Tron’ was originally made by filmmakers in the early ‘80s who had this wild idea that everyone thought was crazy,’ she said. ‘When they used words like ‘program’ in ‘Tron,’ no one had ever heard that before. The actors were saying, ‘What’s a program? Why am I saying this word?’ That was someone thinking outside the box and saying ‘I’ve got this idea, I know it sounds crazy, but give me a chance to bring it to life.’ And someone gave them a chance, and it turned into this cult phenomenon.’

-- Amy Kaufman

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