Hearing Nine Inch Nails blaring while watching as a glowing neon-red figure tries to hit a glowing neon-white figure with a triangle whilst avoiding being hit with a circle is oddly hypnotic and profoundly stupid. Okay!

Anybody who tells you that any Tron movie has had anything of substance to say likely worked on one of the Tron movies. Or is Jared Leto. If it was the latter, you wouldn’t know, because he’d be method acting, presenting as whatever character he is playing next. Related: Can we cast Jared Leto as a humble human being with strong morals for a film set to shoot for the rest of his life?

Honestly, if it weren’t for the Leto-of-it-all, Tron: Ares would be a delightfully overbudgeted B-movie with a killer soundtrack and nothing to say but “Look how pretty!” Sadly, Leto is a walking frustration whose performance in House of Gucci should have done to his career what multiple concerning allegations apparently can’t.

As it stands, this improbable third installment in nobody’s favorite trilogy is a goofy spectacle that absolutely does not deserve the hate it is getting. A lot of the ire seems to be about how much they spent making this. People, funding a silly movie is inarguably one of the safest places we can convince rich bozos to put their money.

Maybe the best part of the script for Tron: Ares is how little it expects you to remember from previous movies. Things you need to know going in: 1 – Motorcycles can poop out hard light. 2 – People attack each other with geometric weapons. 3 – Jeff Bridges was somehow involved. End of list. The main character from the last movie is dismissed as “missing.” No explanation.

This time out, evil CEO Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) is trying to sell physical, real-world copies of soldiers and weapons that he 3D-prints from his software. Good CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is trying to sell physical, real-world copies of trees and fruit that she 3D-prints from her software. Both need “the permanence code,” which allows the 3D-printed material to last longer than 30 minutes. Also, Gillian Anderson is around to sport a snide British accent and brutally judge her evil CEO son.

The soldier that Dillinger is printing is Ares (Leto), who is like a replicant from Blade Runner in that he only wants to live and is obsessed with rain. He is unlike a replicant from Blader Runner in that he is in an incredibly dumb movie. How dumb? They color code the bad guys and good guys, just so you don’t even have to pay the slightest bit of attention to anything that is said. In fact, it’s better if you ignore all dialogue and “plot.” Lee is wildly charismatic and does wonderful face acting, despite the words she’s forced to say. And nobody should ever listen to anything Jared Leto says.

The movie’s arc just follows Ares growth as a character. That sucks. Because he’s played by Jared Leto. It sucks for other reasons too, like the fact that it is hard to work up emotional investment in a character that is literally just computer code. But if you came to Tron: Ares because of the Tron and not the Ares, good news: They do tons of Tron things and spent lots of money to do it.

Cars get cut in half by neon light. A life-sized Spaced Invaders ship shows up. People do flips and stuff. The entire time, Trent Reznor and company kick out the jams. It honestly plays like an overly produced music video, and that is 100% a compliment.

Aside from the audacity of an ending that dares to set up a sequel and Jared Leto, Tron: Ares should be forgiven and potentially even embraced. More neon nonsense, less Leto.

Grade = B-

Other Critical Voices to Consider

George M. Thomas at the Akron Beacon Journal says “Ultimately, it’s a warning about the arrogance of people who let the genie out of the bottle before understanding the powers it can wield.”

Sreeju Sudhakaran at LatestLY.com says “For all its visual polish and strong sonic identity, Tron: Ares ultimately feels derivative and emotionally hollow. Its attempts to marry nostalgic callbacks with new ideas falter under the weight of predictable plotting and uninspired character arcs. It’s a glossy, intermittently entertaining sequel that promises evolution but delivers more of the same.”

Nicola Austin at We Have a Hulk says “Featuring one of the best soundtracks of the year (KPop Demon Hunters aside!) and several immersive action sequences, Tron: Ares is undoubtedly an audiovisual treat. But there’s a surprising hollowness to the whole affair, despite a staggering 15 years of development.”