View From the Phlipside - Movie Sequels

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

I've discovered the perfect way to watch a movie sequel.  Go with someone who never saw the original.  That may sound like the most annoying way to see a movie sequel but it has its advantages.  Which I'll explain.

First by movie sequel I don't mean another movie in a movie serial.  A movie serial is one that is telling basically the same story over several movies, like Lord of the Rings or maybe Harry Potter.  A sequel is designed to be able for the most part to stand on its own.  Note that I say "for the most part".  It still requires some basic background along with it that is essential to understanding what's going on.  So we got the ground rules established?  Good.  I just saw a sequel that screwed that simple formula up.

When "Tron" came out in 1982 I was johnny on the spot to see it.  As a long time science fiction fan I am always interested to see what was next.  Tron did an impressive job bringing us a great new look to what was a pretty standard story line.  But it all took place inside a computer program!  Loved it, flaws and all.   Lo these many years later along comes "Tron-Legacy" and I definitely want to take my computer and movie loving daughter to see it.  Logically I figure we'll rent the original and see it first.  Turns out you can't get a copy of the original from Netflix so she'll see the sequel cold.

Visually the movie is once again generally stunning.  The process used to "turn back the clock" on Jeff Bridges results in some astoundingly wooden visuals for his digital twin Clu.  But the real problem was for my daughter.  Tron-Legacy does such a rotten job of bringing us back into the time and place of the story that she never really understood what all the fuss was about.  There was so little attempt to remind us what went before that when the title character makes a supreme sacrifice I have to admit even I didn't care all that much.  I assume that they were counting on past movie fans and fans of the games, comics and TV show to know all this.  I've never seen anything except the movie.  No mention of Master Control Program or the other baddies.  A garbled back story for the original hero's son, a vague swipe at what happened to Tron (who, given that the movie bears his name, REALLY gets the short end of the stick in this sequel) and, standard for an action flicks, several long chase/fight scenes that could have been several minutes shorter.

Then they could have used those minutes to do something radical, like tell the story.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010