ASTROLOGICAL MOVIE REVIEW
The movie takes place 28 years after the first film, TRON. The plot is centered on the father-son relationship, where the father had disappeared for 20 years . . . only to be found within the digital realm that the father had created in the original film.
Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), is a rebellious, intelligent, thrill-seeking young man who refused to take up his father’s mantle after Kevin disappeared. The corporation that Kevin built lost its ‘way’ after Kevin vanished. Kevin soon discovers that his father’s disappearance had to with the virtual world he built. Sam is led to his father’s old arcade from the original film, TRON and finds a passage down to a basement where Kevin’s virtual world (known as the Grid) transporter resides. After sitting at the computer terminal, he is ‘digitized’ into his father’s virtual world.
Thrown into a world he only knew from stories his father told him 20 years ago, he has to learn quickly to survive the games and locate Kevin. Along the way, he meets an adversary, CLU (played by Jeff Bridges), who tests Sam in a Lightcycle race, and an ally, Quorra (Olivia Wilde), who helps him escape off the grid at the end of the Lightcycle race, and out of the virtual city and to his father’s location.
Sam Flynn is 27 years old in the movie. Astrologically, he is experiencing a nodal reversal, which is similar to a Saturn cycle. The
Courtesy of Disney and IMDB.com
weight of responsibilities is creeping closer to him after years of trying to avoid them. Sam exhibits strong Aries and Gemini energy. Before being taken into the Grid, he plays a complex, but brilliant joker on his Board of Directors of his father’s company, EMCOM. He loves driving motorcycles and doing physical stunts. He never wanted to be a part of EMCOM, other than being a major shareholder. He is somewhat rebellious, loves daredevil stunts and going fast.
While his age is not revealed in the move, I believe Bridges’ character, Kevin Flynn, to be 59 years old and experiencing his 2nd Saturn Return. He has an odd combination of Aquarius and Capricorn energy. His novelty and innovation show in the creation of the virtual world, the Grid, and programming of the character, CLU, in which he instructed him “to build the perfect system.” This is a very earthy statement but I take it as more Capricorn because it really involves a self-sustaining and efficient system that only a Capricorn could appreciate. But CLU’s interpretation of the ‘perfect system’ did not include users or Kevin himself. Kevin was unable to get back into the real world 20 years ago and fled into exile after CLU revolted. Kevin had to own up to the responsibility of the consequences of creating the virtual world and the order given to CLU to create a perfect system. Kevin’s residence in the virtual realm is ‘off’ the Grid, but boxed inside a self-made prison. At one time, he was the only person living in the Grid in that way, a novelty, but also limiting himself to stay rooted in a peaceful, yet walled-environment.
Sam and Kevin disagree about what should be done. The portal is only open a certain number of hours and Sam wants to get back to the real world, but Kevin thinks they should wait. Kevin, using his Aries ( I can do it without help!) energy, he takes Kevin’s Lightrunner and Quorra’s advice and heads back to the Grid. Sam discovers that CLU wants his perfect system to move into the real world, using the creator’s (Kevin Flynn) disk as a key. With Sam now in the virtual world and in danger from Kevin’s creations, he has to make the ultimate sacrifice, letting go of his creations in order to save his son and protect his legacy.
Saturn Returns and Nodal Reversals are kindred spirits in Shamanic Astrology. Both of these cycles have Capricorn-like energy. Both are regressive, in a sense, because they force growth through limits and boundaries. Judgment, responsibility and major decisions are the primary themes in the film. Both Kevin and Sam are forced to make enormous, life-changing decisions at the end, for the good of their soul-purpose, which is exactly what those 2 cycles are about.
For anyone in a Saturn cycle, Nodal Reversal or Father-Son relationship, this is one expression (granted in a Sci-Fi background) I thought deserved to be mentioned.