The original movie was generic. While it's far from bad, it's plot was simplistic in terms of the overall focus being on the good vs evil side and less on the thematic element it established of Flynn and all users being gods. It serves as a mythology, however, to a much more insightful legend which unfolds in this movie. But the problem is, due to the somewhat simplistic nature of the predecessor, people failed to give attention to the themes of this film, preferring to focus on the generic side as that's what they'd expect from a Tron movie. But the movie doesn't stay generic, so when viewers find nothing simple to see they assume the movie is empty. It's not, they're minds are just preset to look for simple "turn off your brain and be entertained" values, which simply aren't present in this film.
The whole movie, just like the original, is similar to the idea of a religious mythology. The original featured programs as disciples of the users, enslaved for their belief. But that plays a small role overall. Here, when the Grid is reprogrammed to the image of Kevin Flynn, Flynn is established to the status of "the one true god" at least of this version of the grid, and all the other users who contribute new programs are just angels. But the maker of this world is Flynn, regardless of whether or not he writes the fates of these people. So, much like the original Hebrew form of god, he is not so much a ruler who demands worship or enforce any rules but just a wise and experienced being here to help when he's needed.
And it's not so much an analogy to call Flynn god as it is TRUE. He has successfully created a world, not a platform. A world that's self sustaining and requires no more intervention of the users, as displayed by the ISOs which created themselves and were programmed by no-one.
And this demands many questions! If they'd been allowed to live, would the ISOs have made this world like our own in thousands of years? Does this mean that's how our own god could have created our own world and how we came to be? Questions of such layered nature can't simply be ignored as style over substance.
And then there comes CLU, the best friend of Flynn who he trusted. But as god, I dare say it, may have been somewhat confused in his image he had for the world in his early form, so did Flynn suffer from this same confusion of image for his world. This causes CLU to suffer a similar fate of uncertainty, making him only able to understand that his god is incapable of creating a perfect world since he can't imagine one. Thus, taking matters into his own hands, he abandons his god and does what he sees to be right. But the problem is he expects to get a different result with the same thinking as his flawed god, the only thinking he has been exposed to, and makes even worse mistakes than his god, making Flynn see the errors of his ways. Thus, a most appropriate analogy, CLU becomes the Satan to Flynn's god.
But the ultimate piece of symbolism that outmatches anything else in the movie, is the final attempt of CLU to get Flynn's disc. He realizes Flynn has tricked him, by giving the disc he sought to his son. He discovered that the son of Flynn, and thus the son of a god, has obtained the disc and power he seeks, and thus he must obtain it. There is so much symbolism that flies past viewers in what happens next. When CLU realizes he has been tricked, he raises his disc to derez Flynn and then go get the right one, but only violently places the disc beside Flynn, subtly showing in the end he still considered Flynn his friend and could not bring himself to kill him. CLU runs to obtain this disc from the obstacle stopping him from having the ultimate power, showing the rivalry between the Satan and savior of this world.
Such themes like this show the filmmakers truly put a lot of thought into their creation, not a lack of it, so people need to stop discrediting them and their work.
The whole movie, just like the original, is similar to the idea of a religious mythology. The original featured programs as disciples of the users, enslaved for their belief. But that plays a small role overall. Here, when the Grid is reprogrammed to the image of Kevin Flynn, Flynn is established to the status of "the one true god" at least of this version of the grid, and all the other users who contribute new programs are just angels. But the maker of this world is Flynn, regardless of whether or not he writes the fates of these people. So, much like the original Hebrew form of god, he is not so much a ruler who demands worship or enforce any rules but just a wise and experienced being here to help when he's needed.
And it's not so much an analogy to call Flynn god as it is TRUE. He has successfully created a world, not a platform. A world that's self sustaining and requires no more intervention of the users, as displayed by the ISOs which created themselves and were programmed by no-one.
And this demands many questions! If they'd been allowed to live, would the ISOs have made this world like our own in thousands of years? Does this mean that's how our own god could have created our own world and how we came to be? Questions of such layered nature can't simply be ignored as style over substance.
And then there comes CLU, the best friend of Flynn who he trusted. But as god, I dare say it, may have been somewhat confused in his image he had for the world in his early form, so did Flynn suffer from this same confusion of image for his world. This causes CLU to suffer a similar fate of uncertainty, making him only able to understand that his god is incapable of creating a perfect world since he can't imagine one. Thus, taking matters into his own hands, he abandons his god and does what he sees to be right. But the problem is he expects to get a different result with the same thinking as his flawed god, the only thinking he has been exposed to, and makes even worse mistakes than his god, making Flynn see the errors of his ways. Thus, a most appropriate analogy, CLU becomes the Satan to Flynn's god.
But the ultimate piece of symbolism that outmatches anything else in the movie, is the final attempt of CLU to get Flynn's disc. He realizes Flynn has tricked him, by giving the disc he sought to his son. He discovered that the son of Flynn, and thus the son of a god, has obtained the disc and power he seeks, and thus he must obtain it. There is so much symbolism that flies past viewers in what happens next. When CLU realizes he has been tricked, he raises his disc to derez Flynn and then go get the right one, but only violently places the disc beside Flynn, subtly showing in the end he still considered Flynn his friend and could not bring himself to kill him. CLU runs to obtain this disc from the obstacle stopping him from having the ultimate power, showing the rivalry between the Satan and savior of this world.
Such themes like this show the filmmakers truly put a lot of thought into their creation, not a lack of it, so people need to stop discrediting them and their work.