Maybe the character of Sam Flynn didn't resonate with male sci-fi viewers because it's kind of hard to relate to the typical "deposed prince" archetype.
He owns the majority share stake of what would be the equivalent of MS, IBM and Intel combined, yet spends his days planning clever pranks on his own company while abstaining from taking an active role in the company he essentially owns due to unresolved issues over the mysterious loss of his father from 20 years ago.
When he's transported onto the Grid, he inexplicably has near mythical powers relative to the programs, despite the lack of character development that demonstrated he was a game playing virtuoso like his father and more or less lacking the same brilliance as his father who is essentially the God of the Grid, having personally coded the key components of the world. Kevin Flynn was more believable as a protagonist in the original film as a result.
Plus Sam is able to transport the Really, Really, Ridiculously Good-looking Quorra back into the real world and ride off together on his bike into the sunset. Yeah. There's going to be a whole lot of empathy there.
Personally, I really liked the movie. I was a little disappointed by most of the 3D Imax presentation (nothing like Avatar), but it is actually a movie I'd buy on BD when it comes out, despite my dwindling movie buying habits thanks to RedBox.
But then I've always been a fan of the original film, when it's been fashionable to trash it for the last 20 plus years.
