TRON: Legacy goofs

The opening scene of the film is set in 1989. Kevin gives young Sam two action figures that contain white LEDs. White LEDs were not invented until 1995 and, because their per‑unit cost was very high, did not enter widespread mainstream use until nearly a decade later.

When Sam switches off the screen saver on the computer concealed in the arcade, a single window appears showing, among other details, an indication that the machine he's operating is a sun4m. The first sun4ms were not announced until around 1992, long after Kevin Flynn disappeared.

In the long shots of Sam and Quorra riding the Ducati across the bridge, Quorra's hair billows out behind her, whereas in the close-ups it scarcely moves.

In the fight sequence at the End of Line, Quorra is wearing flat boots with no heels. However, when Sam carries her off the lift towards the cargo ship, Quorra's boots are shown with heels.

When Rinzler apprehends Quorra and escorts her to Clu, the shot is presented as a mirror image — her costume and hairstyle are clearly reversed.

Kevin Flynn is shown lying in bed, dreaming that he and Sam are on a beach, and he is wearing knee-length shorts. However, when he gets out of bed he is wearing full-length trousers.

On the solar sailor en route to the portal, Flynn adjusts his stance during his "knocking on the sky" yoga pose as Quorra speaks to Sam.

The Ducati in the film is the Sport Classic 1000 Biposto. It is frequently mistaken for the Monoposto version because of the removable passenger-seat cowl. That cowl stays fitted for the majority of the film, including when Sam arrives at Flynn's Arcade, but it is removed when he and Quorra leave.

When Sam enters the arcade and flips the breaker back on, every machine powers up without a hitch. Given the era in which the film is set, those cabinets should, after three decades without maintenance, have blown capacitors, leaking backup/real-time clock batteries, failing power supplies and similar issues, which would likely stop them from booting or result in distorted graphics and audio.

During a BASE jump from a building you'd reach roughly 50% of your terminal velocity in about three seconds. In the scene Flynn jumps backwards and holds that position for around four seconds, then rolls over, falls a little further, and finally pulls a cord at approximately seven seconds — all without a pilot chute. It looks impressive on camera, but opening the parachute that late would almost certainly have been fatal.

At the start of the film, set in 1989, Flynn is speaking to his young son Sam. In the original 1982 film Flynn did not have a son, so Sam ought to be no older than six or seven in this scene, yet he is evidently much older — portrayed by Owen Best, who was 12 or 13 when he filmed his scenes.

If Users remain made of flesh and blood while inside the Grid (as shown by Sam's bleeding during Disk Wars), then Quorra should still be "physically" composed of data. She would also be unable to be "rebooted", having exchanged disks with Flynn. Moreover, because Flynn aged in the Grid while CLU did not, any Sam and Quorra romantic storyline in a third TRON would be doomed in the manner of Aragorn & Arwen, since Sam would age and Quorra would not.

When Sam uses his hand-held computer to breach the electronic lock on the vault door in the Encom building, it only opens part-way, forcing him to squeeze through. There is no plausible reason for the door not to open fully; it remains partly closed purely for dramatic effect to show him sneaking into the building, though the door itself is of course unaware of that.

When Sam asks Clu what he has done to his father, Clu replies, "the same thing I'm going to do to you!" Clu did not harm Kevin Flynn, as Flynn had escaped to a concealed refuge. He certainly did not compel him to fight on the light-cycle grid as he did with Sam.

When Sam is arrested after leaping from the Encom building, his motorbike is left in the Encom car park. The police don't know where it is, nor that he was the speeding motorist who fled from the patrol officer earlier, so they would have no reason to search for it or take it to the vehicle pound; yet, upon his release from custody he must reclaim it from that pound. It should still be parked beside the Encom building.

Kevin tells Sam that hours spent inside equate to only minutes outside. If that were true, Kevin would long since have been dead — he was absent for twenty (20) years in the outside world, which ought to amount to centuries on the grid, whilst he seems to be only about twenty (20) years older.

When Sam Flynn is first brought before Clu, the identity disc on his back is not illuminated. The inner ring on each side is meant to remain lit at all times, but in several side-on shots the identity discs of various characters appear unlit.

As Kevin, Sam and Quorra board the Light Jet on the flight deck and Quorra gets the jet to take off to make their escape, she holds her hands out in front of her as if operating flight controls; yet her hands are visibly open and empty and there are no controls or cockpit panel anywhere. In the subsequent cockpit shots her hands remain in the same position, but she is now seen grasping a joystick with her right hand and a thrust lever with her left.

When Sam Flynn first enters the arcade, the displays on several arcade cabinets appear to flicker. This isn't normal behaviour — it's a visual artefact that occurs when a camera recording an old CRT monitor isn't capturing at the same frames per second (FPS) as the screen's refresh rate.

During CLU's address to his army, a close-up focuses on one of his soldiers' helmets, with CLU reflected dead centre on the visor. In the following shot CLU is shown standing on his dais, yet not a single soldier actually stands before him. If all troops are facing straight ahead, the reflections on the visors should appear to one side or the other, not perfectly centred.

As Sam speeds through the tunnel on his motorbike, the overhead lane indicators are flashing red X's, indicating that the lanes are closed, so there should not be any traffic in the tunnel.