TRON: Ares – Nine Inch Nails

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One of the most intriguing movie franchises I have watched in my life is the TRON franchise. I have always been interested in computers and video games. I vaguely remember seeing the original TRON film back when I was a kid in the ’80s, but I have forgotten most of it. When I started getting into film music in the 2000’s I began to appreciate that film more, mainly because of the amazing score Wendy Carlos had written for it. My excitement grew when the sequel TRON: Legacy came out in 2010. As with the first movie, it had a fun and interesting story, but what excited me most was the stunning score the French electro-pop duo Daft Punk had written for that film. With only some experience in composing music for film, Daft Punk wrote, with the help of Joseph Trapanese, one of the best scores from the past decade. If you want to read up on that, check my article that includes music for TRON:Legacy, in which I expressed my sadness that there would be no sequel. Luckily, Disney revoked that decision and after a break of 15 years TRON:Ares opens in theaters. Unfortunately, Daft Punk have disbanded in the meantime, so the band Nine Inch Nails stepped in to create the music for the TRON sequel we have all been waiting for.

If you look at it from a superficial point of view, having a band like the Nine Inch Nails take over from Daft Punk as their first film score sounds like an outstanding opportunity. However, this is a marketing stunt and far from the truth, because Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross had their first composing debut back in 2010 for The Social Network, which won them an Oscar, and have been composing as a duo ever since. If you look at the credits for TRON: Ares, Reznor and Ross took their assignment for the latest film in the TRON universe very seriously, because both of them are, in addition to being composers for the film, also executive producers and have cameos.

If you’re curious what kind of score Reznor and Ross have written, the very first track “Init” gives you a pretty good idea. In this track, you can hear their approach to creating an electronic soundscape for the franchise. If you listen closely you might pick up some Daft Punk influences. Notable differences to the two previous movies start to surface in the second track, “Forked Reality,” with its raw and distorted sounds, which represent the evil company that can bring programs like Ares into the real world as human-like beings. Another difference is the emotional theme for the protagonist Eve, which can be heard on a piano in “Echoes,” surrounded by artificial sounds. The theme melody also returns in full synthetic form in “Permanence” as well. There are some other cues on the album that I want to point out. “Infiltrator” is a great dance track which I keep bopping my head to, but we can also hear the dreamy side of Reznor and Ross in “No Going Back,” in which we hear Reznor’s voice, surrounded by short notes oscillating around it.

There are more tracks on the album featuring Reznor’s voice. The Nine Inch Nails  also created four songs for the album, which is probably why they feature as composers for this score instead of individual band members, and the marketing force of course. The songs are “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” “I Know You Can Feel It,” “Who Wants to Live Forever?”  and “Shadow Over Me.” I cannot recall hearing all of them in the film. “Shadow Over Me” is not mentioned as one being used in the movie, and “Who Wants to Live Forever?” could only be heard in the end credits. These songs with their electronic elements and some Daft Punk influences are alright, but not my cup of tea.

The big question is whether the music for TRON: Ares lives up to its predecessors. This movie is a part of the TRON franchise, but it is also different since most of the story takes place in the real world. This is reflected in the music, which is more like a standard score with an emphasis on electronic elements. While the music has its moments in certain scenes, there are also times when it does not land for me. Two examples come to mind. The first is the scene in which a speeder is racing towards a destination. While it traverses at high speeds, we hear a repetitive musical pattern without any significant changes. However, the most significant case of music I do not understand accompanies the epic duel at the end. There are long, dragging notes, which can also be heard in “Nemesis.” This music does not reflect anything on screen at all. 

The best way for me personally to determine if a score is impressive is whether parts of it stay in my head after watching a film. When I left the movie theater, there was a TRON song in my head, but it was not one by Nine Inch Nails. I think that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross wrote a decent score for the most recent TRON film, but unfortunately it is not as iconic as its two predecessors. 

Listen or buy

• Buy this soundtrack from Amazon or Apple Music
• Listen to this soundtrack on Spotify

Tracklist

The highlights are in bold.

1. Init (2:07)
2. Forked Reality (1:50)
3. As Alive as You Need Me to Be (3:57)
4. Echoes (3:46)
5. This Changes Everything (2:59)
6. In the Image Of (1:33)
7. I Know You Can Feel It (5:21)
8. Permanence (1:29)
9. Infiltrator (2:47)
10. 100% Expendable (3:54)
11. Still Remains (1:54)
12. Who Wants to Live Forever? (5:50)
13. Building Better Worlds (2:11)
14. Target Identified (3:24)
15. Daemonize (5:09)
16. Empathetic Response (2:09)
17. What Have You Done? (2:14)
18. A Question of Trust (1:20)
19. Ghost in the Machine (1:29)
20. No Going Back (1:55)
21. Nemesis (1:45)
22. New Directive (2:45)
23. Out in the World (1:05)
24. Shadow Over Me (3:55)

Total length: 1 hour and 6 minutes
Interscope Records (2025)