Scene One
This scene features Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) meeting up with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) in his apartment. He lives in a small warehouse like structure near a bridge by the water. I noticed that the big door at Sam's place said "Dumont" on it, which made me smile.
Some of these scenes were in the trailer, but it was more in depth. It explains that Sam is reluctant to take over leadership of Encom and engages in some risky behavior (the latest being a motorcycle accident where he hurts himself as evidenced by scratches on his back). Alan has been acting as a surrogate father figure, and he tells Sam that he received a page from Kevin Flynn's disconnected number. He gives him the keys to Flynn's arcade. Despite Sam's reluctance, he goes to the arcade.
At the arcade, he turns on the various games and a lot of familiar 80's sound effects kick in. The sound mixing is different than the trailer. An 80's pop song (I forget which exactly) kicks in as the jukebox fires up. As Sam explores, he discovers the Tron game can be slid out to reveal a secret passage.
The first trailer is cut to make it seem like Kevin's office is right behind the Tron game, but it actually leads to a staircase, then a locked door with old dusty keys in it. He uses the keys and then gets into the dust office seen in the trailer. On the wall is a corkboard with photos of Kevin and Sam from Sam's childhood.
He dusts off the computer panel and begins exploring and as he does so we see a laser of the same design as the one from the first movie behind him powering up. Fade to black.
What I found to be a relief was Garrett's performance. I knew Bruce would be great, but Garrett manages to not be annoying. No Anakin style whining here. He plays the scenes straight with just the right amount of humor and wonder.
This "real world" scene was a 2D scene, but you won't have to take your glasses off for it, it's presented such that you keep your glasses on (otherwise it's all blurry). Once you're in the Grid, the 3D kicks in.
Scene Two
Sam is in "The Grid", aka the "Tron" world. He doesn't know what's going on when a Recognizer comes to capture him. He is taken prisoner and locked down in a standing position alongside several other captives. He asks one of them what is going on, but he is told to be quiet for his own good. Another "program" that has been captured is missing part of his face. The Recognizer takes off and flies over the Grid, and Sam quickly realizes his father created this world. The Recognizer uses a variant of its flying sound effect from the first movie, and on the streets below I sighted at least one tank of a similar design to those from the first movie.
When the Recognizer lands, the top horizontal section slides down the "legs" to unload its prisoners. One of the prisoners escapes and commits suicide by jumping off a ledge rather than be sent to the games. Sam is designated as going to the games and is taken away.
Inside, Sam is in a large room where four "Sirens" (led by Beau Garrett) come out of pods in the four corners of the room and strip him of his "real world" clothes and outfit him with his "Tron" outfit. As they dress him, one of the Sirens whispers to another "This one is different." The last piece to be assembled is the "Identity Disc". While the disc is attached and powering up, a female voice states what the disc is, using Sark's speech from the first film as its basis (drawing some applause and laughs from the audience).
Once outfitted, the Sirens retreat back into pods in the four corners of the room. Sam asks what he is supposed to do and the lead Siren simply says "Survive" before disappearing into her pod.
Scene Three
The scene opens with crowds inside a stadium cheering. Clu comes out and takes a relaxed pose on his chair (more like a throne) and is cheered almost like a king. Suspended in mid-air are several rectangular chambers. Each once has two combatants in it. One of them has Sam and an unnamed warrior in it. They are there to play the Disc game.
When the warrior begins to fight, he readies his disc and his helmet forms automatically over his head. Not knowing what to do, Sam doesn't pull his disc at first. He manages to dodge the first onslaught of disc throws. The warrior does some fantastic gymnastic moves as he throws the disc and catches it after it bounces off the walls. Like the "disc platforms" of the first movie, the panels that make up this chamber can be destroyed by impact, so at one point Sam almost loses when the panel below him is destroyed. Once Sam gets into it, he manages to win the battle and declares his victory loudly.
The Disc battle seemed a bit short, and I'm wondering if what we saw was partly edited. Still, the moves that Sam's opponent pulled were really fantastic to watch as the warrior would throw the disc, jump, catch it after a flip etc. I also like keeping the "destructible enviroment" factor. It pays homage to the original movie but kicks it up a notch.
Scene Four
This is the "escape" scene that has been partly revealed online. Here, Quorra is in the Light Runner helping Sam escape from a group of Clu's Light Cycle warriors. The Light Cycles move very much like they do in the initial "Test trailer" from a couple years back. The light walls curve and are fluid, but just as dangerous. What's interesting is that hitting the wall does not mean immediate destruction. When one of Clu's programs hits a wall, he flies off the Cycle and reforms a new one just as he lands!
I've read the Light Runner can generate "walls", but here it used weaponry instead including dropping traps behind it and firing missiles to create a "crack" in the wall of the grid to escape through. Whereas the stadium and most of the Grid is streamlined, straight etc., the world beyond the "crack" is revealed to be rough with a more rocky texture. Quorra states that Clu's warriors cannot follow them there. She then kicks the Light Runner into a "4x4" type mode where it's wheels/axles elevate and I think the tires changed as well.
Quorra is a treat here. Unlike Clu's programs or the other warriors/captives seen thus far, she has a personality about her that has humor and you can tell that a younger Kevin Flynn probably programmed her. I expect her to be fun.
Upon reaching their destination, Quorra brings Sam to the Safe House seen in the trailers. There, Kevin is in a meditative position, sitting with his back to Sam and Quorra. The room has an elegant table to one side but is sparsly furnished. An old style Light Cycle (the white one that they've made toys of) is "parked" off to the side. She tells him to wait near the entrance as she goes to Kevin and tells him they have a guest.
Kevin looks ancient here, and I'm sure that's the point. His beard and hair are very white and his mind seems far away. As others have pointed out, in the Grid about 1,000 years have passed at this point. Kevin seems detached and a bit empty in the eyes (Jeff Bridges really cranks up the acting here, it's so weird to see him like that when he's so lively in real life). When he sees Sam, he stares intently until he realizes who it is he is looking at. When he does so, he grabs him and the two hug. Sam cries and Kevin eventually breaks, and walks outside, staring into the distance. Quorra explains that Kevin never thought he would see Sam again.
When Sam looks at the white Light Cycle, Quorra explains it is an old style Light Cycle that doesn't see much us anymore, but it is still the fastest one on the Grid.
Outside, Kevin looks into the distance and his face seems to be gaining back some level of awareness and determination (with sadness mixed in) that wasn't there before.
The gem of this sequence is Jeff Bridges. Everyone else is great, but when he's on the screen he just adds a gravity and weight that is amazing to watch and feel. It really solidified my belief that this project would be much less formidable without him.
Mash up
What follows next were a series of quick cuts of scenes that have been seen already and some that have not. This includes more scenes of Clu, Sam and Quorra and what really struck me were the (and I may be remembering this name wrong) Light Fighters, aerial versions of Light Cycles (this is what Clu "creates" in the last scene of the latest trailer). This also included the "Daft Punk" cameo scene.