Tron is a 1982 American action science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Productions and Lisberger Studios and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company. It stars Jeff Bridges as the protagonist hacker Kevin Flynn (and his program counterpart inside the electronic world, CLU), Bruce Boxleitner as Tron (and Tron's "user", Alan Bradley), Cindy Morgan as Yori (and her "user", Dr. Lora Baines), and Dan Shor as Ram. David Warner plays all three main antagonists: the program Sark, his "user", Ed Dillinger, and the voice of the Master Control Program.
Tron was written and directed by Steven Lisberger, who has a distinctive visual style, as it was one of the first films from a major studio to use extensive computer graphics. Decades after its initial release, it has spawned a franchise consisting of a sequel film, multiple video games, comic books and a planned television series.
Plot
Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a young and gifted software engineer. He was once an employee of the software corporation ENCOM, and had developed several video games after hours to start his own company. However, a co-worker, Ed Dillinger (David Warner) took Flynn's code and presented it as his own, eventually earning him a series of executive promotions to become the company's CEO, while Flynn was eventually terminated and forced to run a video game arcade. Flynn tries to hack into the ENCOM mainframe to find evidence of Dillinger's wrongdoing, but the Master Control Program (MCP), an artificial intelligence software program that controls the ENCOM mainframe, blocks his attempts. Dillinger authorizes the MCP to enforce tighter security controls, which happen to lock out Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner), an ENCOM employee and Flynn's friend, from the mainframe. Bradley's program, named "Tron", would have monitored communication between the MCP and the outside world; the MCP warns Dillinger that such monitoring would interfere with its ability to access high security databases like The Pentagon, which it believes it can run more efficiently. Bradley approaches Dillinger about gaining access, but Dillinger refuses.
Bradley and his friend and co-worker Dr. Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan) approach Flynn, warning him that Dillinger has learned of his hacking attempt and the mainframe lockdown. Flynn convinces Bradley to bring him into ENCOM's laser laboratory, where tests are being done to attempt to digitize real objects as computer code. Flynn is able to access the mainframe at a different level of security, but is unaware that the MCP is monitoring him. The MCP aims one of the digitizing lasers and fires it at Flynn, sending him inside the ENCOM mainframe. Flynn is at first confused but comes to understand the nature of the digital world. Programs on the ENCOM mainframe are represented by human-like figures who believe their Users to be mythical god-like entities, but due to the MCP's tight controls, most are presently held and forced to play games, the loser being "de-rezzed". These games are monitored by the MCP's control program, Sark (Warner). Flynn is mistaken as a Program and placed in a holding cell where he meets Bradley's Program, Tron (Boxleitner). Tron was seeking to gain access to an input-output tower to get instructions from his User, but MCP's security has locked these down.
Flynn and Tron manage to escape from a Light Cycle game, along with another Program RAM (Dan Shor) and are chased by Sark's troops. Tron is forced to split off from the group and heads to the nearest input-output tower, while Flynn takes the wounded RAM to safety. The weakened RAM, before de-rezzing, helps Flynn to recognize that as a User, he holds special powers within the mainframe. Flynn uses these abilities to catch up with Tron. Tron, meanwhile, has been able to sneak into an input-output tower, and receives instructions from Bradley, imprinted on his light disc, to destroy the MCP. Tron then joins with Yori (Morgan) aboard a solar sail ship simulation program to quickly get to the MCP. Flynn manages to climb aboard at the last minute, demonstrating to Tron and Yori that he is a User. The sail ship is caught by Sark in his command ship, and Yori and Flynn are captured, while Tron is believed to have been de-rezzed.
Sark debarks his ship at the MCP, and de-rezzes it; Flynn is able to use his User powers to protect Yori and control the ship. As Sark offers several Programs to the MCP—a giant shielded pillar of light—Tron appears, having sneaked aboard Sark's shuttle, and attempts to throw the light disc into the MCP. The MCP is too fast and protects itself, and allocates part of its power to Sark to defend it, turning Sark into a giant. As Tron tries to avoid Sark's attacks, Flynn flies the ship over the MCP tower, and then throws himself into it. The MCP becomes confused by Flynn's presence, exposing a small opening to its core to Tron. Tron throws the light disc into the core, destroying the MCP and Sark. All over the mainframe, the security measures are dropped, and input/output towers light up as Programs communicate with their Users. Tron and Yori regroup, as Flynn is sent back to the real world. Flynn is reconstructed in the laser lab, finding the evidence of Dillinger's piracy printed nearby. The next day, Dillinger finds the MCP non-operational, and the same evidence Flynn found displayed on every terminal at ENCOM; sometime later, Flynn is shown to have displaced Dillinger as ENCOM's CEO.
