4K Blu-ray review: Tron & Tron Legacy

The Films

I never understood why Tron has such a devout cult following, but that's kind of the nature of cult films to begin with. If you don't get it, you don't get it, and those that do will follow them to the ends of the earth.

Such it is with Tron and it's sequel, Tron Legacy. They're not great films, which you wouldn't guess from the way some speak of them. That fervor was enough for Disney to greenlight not just one, but two sequels in the span of three decades. With the abysmal Tron: Ares now an official flop at the box office, maybe it's finally time for this odd franchise to rest for a bit.

Which isn't to say the first two Tron films are bad, they're not. They're just oddly inoffensive and bland for their reputation. The first one, simply titled Tron, is a decent if turgidly paced adventure film about how magical computers are, and how nobody in Hollywood understood them back in the 80s. The sequel, Legacy, dove right into the fantasy realm of things and just abandoned any notion that we're talking about real computers of any kind. It could just as easily be an Alice in Wonderland spin-off and nothing would fundamentally change.

Out of the two, Legacy remains my favorite. It doesn't make a lick of sense and the midway point is slow as molasses, but it's such a big and bombastic effort that I can't help but admire the cheesiness. The soundtrack by Daft Punk certainly helps, especially when you try to gloss over the occasionally iffy visuals, like the awful de-aging attempts to make Jeff Bridges look three decades younger.

That said, if you are a fan of these films, well, you're in luck. This is the best way to watch them, and it's lovely to see Disney give them the kind of attention any classic film deserves for physical preservation. Even if you're not the biggest admirer of this oddbal series, chances are you'll find enough here to enjoy that they make a purchase worthwhile. I certainly didn't think I'd watch Tron again in any capacity after Ares, yet here we are. Happily enjoying two hammy retro outings once more simply because they look and sound amazing.

Video

To put it simply, Tron and Tron Legacy are the best technical achievements for 4K releases in 2025, perhaps ever.

Tron is sourced from the original print negatives, and even the effects come from a 6K scan. Transferred to 4K, they look incredible in the way that you remember them looking in the theater, despite obviously that not being the case. In every way imaginable, they look better. The colors pop, the highlights are brilliant, shadows have depth, and there's a constant sense that all of this was surely shot last week, not 40 years ago, right?

The same is true for Tron Legacy, which is a newer film, but somehow manages to avoid the pitfalls of other 2000s and early 2010s issues when it comes to 4K transfers. The effects look pristine and none of the faces (apart from those Bridges de-aging monstrosities) have that waxy texture we've seen in other outings. Instead, everything looks as it should, even on a lesser edge-lit LCD screen. On an OLED, well, prepare for picking your jaw off the floor.

The first time I put this disc in and the first Grid sequence kicked off, there wasn't a single unimpressed person in the house. It's the kind of disc you throw in to showcase just what people are missing when they say they don't need to upgrade their home setup.

Audio

If you have the speakers for it, the best way to make friends and alienate neighbors is to pump up the volume and hit play on Tron Legacy. That opening sequence, where Flynn explains what The Grid is and how he came to live in it, where Daft Punk's incredible score first picks up, is so mesmerizing everything else from here on out has to compare to it.

Legacy is the clear winner here with the far more immersive and expressive sound mix, but the original Tron isn't far behind. There's a lot going on in every speaker, especially on a truly spectacular Dolby Atmos mix, where the world has a constant sense of space no matter the scene.

Dialog is crisp and clear and the fantastic effects work sounds wonderful even on lesser sound systems. I tested out the output on both a Dolby Atmos home theater setup as well as simple TV speakers from a Sony X950H. While the TV speakers were naturally a bit tinny, you could still tell that the source material was working overtime to sound great.

Demo quality, through and through, and the best sound offering on any 4K disc in 2025.

Extras

The extras are numerous across the two extra Blu-ray discs, but they're not particularly compelling once you realize they're mostly just advertising EPK material. There's no big documentary feature here nor is there that much insight into the making of the films apart from one decent commentary track on the original Tron disc.

Legacy remains surprisingly bereft of anything great, which is particularly dire considering how much newer it is. Surely someone on the team could have come in for a new retrospective?

But taken for what they are, they're OK, and it's nice there's anything at all here. It's just a shame when compared to how great the technical presentation is that the extras themselves feel like an afterthought. Compared to the amazing Clint Eastwood film releases in the fall, Tron has really dropped the ball right on the home stretch.

Overall

There are some very valid complaints you could point at both Tron releases, like the lack of extras and how the films are only decent at best, but they're such technical marvels that I have a hard time quibbling over details. If you're into physical media for preservation and seeing movies in the best possible format outside of a movie theater, there's no reason not to get these discs. They're that good, end of story.