🕹️ Tron: Ares (2025) in Dolby Atmos: A Masterclass on Dolby Cinema

5 Out of 5 Bags 💰💰💰💰💰

Written by Jonathan Garcia

Tron: Ares

That was stunning. Wow. The Dolby Atmos? OUTSTANDING. This was a moment. Whoever the team is/are, everyone involved. Hats off to y’all, wow. This is a masterpiece for Dolby Atmos! The attention to detail and care that went into the Atmos is top tier. The acting and graphic design is amazing. But the music, soundFX, sound design, score and DOLBY ATMOS made this film unbelievable. Powerup and lets talk Dolby Atmos!

🎧 Dolby Atmos

Immediately, during the Disney intro, the panning is amazing. The Grid is up next and we are IMMERSED! The way the audio flows with the motion of the screen was so well done. They truly bring us, the viewers, into the world of Tron and it’s only the beginning. As the film goes on we’re only getting more involved and immersed. The sound design and score were on point with the feeling the film gives. There really weren’t any moments where the sound stayed stagnant. By that I mean, there is always motion happening on the screen be that main focus or background nuances that continue off the visual field and are carried through with Dolby Atmos and the viewer's instinct. I love paying close attention to the “non important” roles like a bit floating past us in the background. Usually once it's off the screen and we can’t see it, it means that we won’t hear it either. That’s not the case here. Everything is accounted for and translates tremendously in Atmos. The immersive balance was extremely well done. It never felt too heavy on a specific side. This was a full experience. No thoughts of this being stereo or some mediocre surround. The Dolby Atmos team for the movie makes it their complete pleasure in transporting us to the Grid with Ares. There is so much audio happening the entire time the placement of it is so well done that nothing feels like it's being over powered. No elements feel like they’re lacking any sonics.

🔊 Dynamics, Loudness & Balance

Everything feels right. Really putting my focus on the dynamics for a while, this film was full of great dynamics. Although if you really dig in with the engineer & post production brain, you’ll be able to tell the “glue” in the audio was like a good bus compressor. Not extremely squeezing, not limiting. But giving us some tight dynamics with a bit of a master's mastering touch on the transitions from hush foot steps to worldly chaos. The sonics of the film felt “soft”. This was a surprisingly nice touch that I'm not sure I've really experienced with other Atmos films. Having the sonics feel soft and lush allows for bigger transients and deeper hits at a higher RMS and allows the audio to be pushed farther during the Atmos experience. This is super nice because even at high dBSPL levels it doesn’t feel painful to the ear or cause fatigue or distractions. Amazing job.

🎚️ LFE

Perfect. The low end is beautiful and used with extreme taste. During tense moments we feel the swell of the LFE creating that “gut feeling” keeping us on edge. The LFE enhanced the experience of the advanced machinery in the Grid and in real life by helping us feel the pressure and weight they actually have, and it’s heavy! If the LFE was used in any other way or less than it is now, I don't think this could be the smash that it is. Amazing job.

🎬  Favorite Moments

• The Music & Soundtrack: Encapsulating, immersive, exactly what one would imagine from TRON in Dolby Atmos. I was really shocked when I found out that Nine Inch Nails did the music because it’s so perfect. I would never have thought they were the masterminds behind it. Get them and the team the Immersive Grammy! Lol 

• The Data Intro: The way the audio reflects the movement on the screen how we would expect it to in real life like how you move around a sound source, impressive!

• Going Inside TV: Such a great effect and continuing the audio after the image was epic.

• Ares Training: The way this progresses is like mono to Dolby Atmos. The panning gets CRAZY here.

• 29 Minutes to find Kim: The rush we feel during this is INSANE! LFE is killer addition to the suspense being built 

• Ares Chooses Kim: Hearing the sound FX of Ares gaining consciousness to himself was such a great representation and wraps around our head too. The music builds crazy suspense here with a brief resolve!

• Free Falling: This was amazing! The way we all fall and have projectiles flying past our heads was great atmos.

• Athena's Ship: This moment is exactly how I imagine it would feel like if a Recognizer ship were to enter our city.

💡 Final Thoughts

5 Out of 5 Bags 💰💰💰💰💰

Tron: Ares is 5 out of 5 Bags!! This movie gets a high recommendation from me. The Dolby Atmos is everything one could expect and makes the movie 10x better. Go see it!