Customer Reviews

THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut: Two-Disc Special Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Be forewarned: THX 1138 is not for all Star Wars fans. This is hard sci-fi, like the kind Kubrick used to make. There are no cute furry Ewoks, there is no villain, there is not much in the way of heroics. This is a dystopian future brought to you by the once-brilliant director, unhampered by his own commercial drives. This is as pure a vision as it gets.

One viewing is not enough to digest THX1138. There is not much in the way of dialogue, or exposition. There is no traditional music, and the story plods along in a very Kubrickian fashion.

It is the future, and humanity now lives in a vast underground city, so vast that nobody ever ventures out to its superstructure where malformed, monkey-like "Shell Dwellers" remain. Perhaps they are mutants, victims of a long-forgotten nuclear holocaust. It is never explained and it's never supposed to be explained. Humanity lives in a sterile, pristinely white city that resembles the dullest of shopping malls. Every word spoken is monitored, including at strange Catholic-looking confessionals, where one prays to the State and the Masses and a weird Christ-like face. Children are taught entire school courses via a chemical IV. Sexual activity is forbidden unless you are scheduled to produce a child. Sedation by drugs is compulsory. Failure to take your medications will result in drug offences and rehabilition. Some humans are deemed defective and left to themselves in a strange white prison, an asylum that seems to go on forever.

Our protangonist is THX-1138, called "Tex" for short. He is played by the young Robert Duvall. He does not feel well. He feels sick, shaky, because he is off his medication. Feelings of love and lust are stirring for his roomate, LUH. The lack of medication has allowed him to feel these feelings for the first time. It has also, however, affected his work, and one error is all it takes to clue in the powers-that-be that THX is a drug offender.

Many themes turn up again in Lucas' later films. A totalitarian faceless government, complete with faceless law enforcement, in this case, robot officers. Staticy background dialogue makes up the most of the soundtrack to this film. Remember how the Stormtroopers sounded when they spoke? Imagine that, constantly, in the background. Lucas has taken sound effects and used them as music, yet they still convey information crucial to the plot. Some shots are duplicated almost perfectly in Star Wars, see if you can spot them.

Some scenes are chilling. THX is channel surfing and comes upon a program of an officer beating a human repeatedly for no apparent reason. This is the entertainment of the future. In another scene, two techs are tormenting THX's body, but their dialogue betrays absolutely no connection whatsoever to the human being they are hurting. "Don't let it get above 48," says one, as THX is writhing in agony. "Oh, you let is get above 48, see, that's why you're getting those readings."

The theme of escape, which was common with Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars, is what is driving THX. He eventually finds an ally in Don Pedro Colley, a "hologram" who he meets in the white asylum. SEN (Donald Pleasance) is suitably creepy as a man whom seems obsessed with THX and LUH. Together, can they escape the city and see what is beyond?

Lucas loves tampering with his films and THX is one of them. CG race cars and cityscapes enhance the film, while CG Shell Dwellers look phony and out of place. I would have preferred the original Shell Dwellers, but in the cityscapes, the new effects certainly add depth and believability.

DVD bonus features are awesome, including ample documentaries. The main feature for me was the original black and white student film that Lucas made: THX1138-4eB - Electronic Labyrinth. See how his vision survived intact to the big screen, and see how ideas such as dialogue acting as the soundtrack was present in the original short.

A fantastic visionary sci-fi film, and a warning to us today. We must not allow our society to become as controlled as THX's. Not for everybody. Only for those who like thinking man's sci-fi.

4 stars. Near perfect.

Some reviewers after citing their many qualifications (having seen some Italian/Japanese films etc) lambast this film for being dry, slow, not action packed enough or not original enough...

I have seen enough film now that I will award a film merit based purely on the originality of its ideas. Science fiction is nothing if it doesn't suggest alternatives to our current understandings and this film presented (to me) an interesting posssible future. Is it entirely original - no. Is it derivitive and unworthy of merit - far from it. Stylistically bold I would hate to see what Lucas would have done with it (as one reveiwer suggested) with the budget and resources of todays films.

I'm not impressed when vintage cinema is 'updated' with CGI that does not meld with the original material. So I would prefer if no such visuals had been added to this edition. Star Wars having strong compositions destroyed by the addition of new background CGI is a good example of a director undoing his own work.

This is Science Fiction. George Lucas was responsible for Star Wars and is most well known for it. He has written/directed several such adventure movies but just because he found commercial success with films like Star Wars/Raiders that doesn't mean he would have done ANYTHING of the sort with THX 1138 (if his budget had been expanded). This is not Star Wars - get over it. The simple fact is this film would not have been made by an older, wiser and more business savvy Lucas.

This is Science Fiction. It presents a stark, cold, clinical, depressing, claustraphobic future. This is the story of a man who finds his existence at odds with his nature. If you want wookies and dogfights look elsewhere - maybe the kids section.

this movie was shot as a "day in the life" from the future, that on it's own is ok to a point, the nice thing with getting no information is that the viewer will fill in the blanks on their own and it'll be plausible to them because they fabricated it.

with this in mind if you watch this movie only and never view the bonus features it's slow, boring, but overall good and with a real uptick in value from the middle to the ending..... BUT DON'T EVER VIEW THE BONUS FEATURES!!!! because they mention where the movie is supposedly taking place.

the updated version is better than the original, the CGI additions fit seamlessly and improve the film.... except for the tunnel monkeys but they on their own don't kill it.

Spoilers DON'T READ ANY FURTHER.

as a day in the life you get the impression the society is like Communist Russia at it's most oppressive... this is plausible, the comparison are easily identifiable but the explanation given in the bonus features is the exact opposite, the bonus features claim the world is based on extreme capitalism.... so why no choice, why no freedom, why nothing to buy worth mention, why no variety which is at the heart of consumer choice even if it's only an illusion and why is no one buying anything other than an empty red cube?

this movie may have been George Lucas's best work, the budget was minimal and he did a lot with it, I can't fault him entirely because he readily admits all the time that he can't write to save his life but to be so very accurate is really still quite disappointing.

This is the only movie from Lucas that is well directed. The new version has some extra footage and a lot of extra CG digital work that actually enhances the film (same as the star wars redos).

Sometimes a movie is better left alone, away from the attempts of the Director to change it for a newer, more sophicated audience. A brilliantly minamalist film in it's original form, the Director's cut has been ruined with cheesy special effects and oversimplicification in an attempt to explain both plot and characters. If you have the opportunity to see both the original and the Director's cut you may agree. The original THX 1138 is difficult to find even in VHS format, but the search is worth it.

Okay, I got to admit, I read multiple reviews and listened to many opinions before finally watching this movie. I am an oldschool cinematography fan and will watch what most of today's audience can't even bear for more than 5 minutes. I've seen the most disturbing Italian movies and the turtle-like slow-paced Kurosawa masterpieces. Been there, done that, got a t-shirt. Then I heard about THX-1138. Well my first thought..what? George Lucas? Maybe it's as good as the original Star Wars Trilogy was too? So having spent time researching the movie prior to buying it, I went and got a copy. Well, what can I say? I'll just say it...it's crap. Ok, yes, one would argue there are hidden messages and visions of possible future, but...it's still crap. What did Lucas do? He took the infamous cliche (by then) topic of 1984ish reality and added a twist...then he looked at his own budget and realized that most scenese will have to be empty, instead of futuristic costumes he'd use cheap prisoner clothing and well everything else that he probably had in mind before he made it would have to be 'out of the picture' too. Result? An overrated not-so-masterpiece that has no acting, ripped off storyline, jumps from scene to scene and overall has no sense of fluency that is a must have in a good movie. You're thrown into an on-going reality, introduced to a personality-less prisoner and are moved, no, dragged through a predictable story until at the end you realize that, umm...THX 1138 is not even a movie, it's like a scrapbook with random ideas that should have been left on paper and forgotten. Considering the fact that even the Star Wars storyline is a kind of a rip off (though he calls it 'inspiration') from Kurosawa's early works with some sci-fying involved, one is left to wonder whether George really deserves all the fame and glory in the first place...

Oh and special features/CGI? Does not save the movie a bit. Both editions are a total crap and are not worth your time unless you're a student of film and really want to see what kind of movies you SHOULDN'T make.

I can't believe it. I bought this DVD before reading the reviews, expecting it to be a digitally REMASTERED director's cut in the true sense of the word. Then while watching, and seeing the glaring CGI scenes, I realize director's cut in Lucas' vocabulary means 'anachronistic CGI enhancement'. Why does George insist on doing this? I think there needs to be a psychological term created to describe what he's doing, because it's just not sane. What's next? Digitally introducing a receding hairline on Ron Howard in American Grafitti? Maybe he could digitally add more scenes of Harrison Ford in the film? This makes me so mad, I'm gonna drop some money for a VHS copy of the film so I can see the original flick, unadulterated, unmangled, unface-lifted.
Oh yeah, the movie and the background docs gets 5 stars. -3 for the digital enhancement.

I first saw this incredible film in a local theater in Long Beach, California in 1971, while still in the U.S. Air Force. I was expecting a "shoot-em-up" science fiction diversion... but was I ever amazed. Just three years before I saw Kubrick's masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey" and thought no other film could touch my soul like that movie could. I think this film hit those same visceral roots within. Like "2001" there is little dialog, and much of the verbage in this film is heard through computer, robot or intercom noise that "first viewers" might dismiss... however, every word in this film is vital in telling the story of THX and LUH.

Robert Duvall is superb in the title role, as is Donald Pleasance and character actor Don Pedro Colley.... but the real surprise is Maggie McOmie in her only movie role. She is totally convincing as the strangely beautiful LUH, THX's love interest. Every frame of this film is a work of art... each one is like modern art... visceral, haunting, unforgettable and brilliant.

This is a film to be experienced.... and with repeated viewings, new clues open up, and you begin to wonder where these people come from, and where they are headed.

This is not a film for those with limited attention spans... it is not about "quick cuts" and simple solutions. And this film was not made in 2004, but in 1971, keep that in mind when you realize this film shows technologies we take for granted today long before they were a reality.

The sets for this film were largely REAL locations in San Francisco and Oakland, by the way. The escalators in the school for boys is actually still in Golden Gateway Center near the Embarcadero. The still-under-construction 16th Street BART station is the realm of shell dwellers. The shopping center is the San Raphael Civic Center Building by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is amazing to visit most of the same locations today since they remain looking relatively the same. To me, the use of these actual and unaltered locations point out that this film is not about a future society at all, but was rather a metaphor for the state of our society in 1971. Viewed from that point of reference, the film's panorama is truly on-target in more ways than one.

I understand the "Directors Cut" will restore the film considerably. This will be thrilling, since I have always felt the film should "move slowly" as one chrome robot says in the film and allow the viewer more access to this frightening but fascinating world. I look forward to this new DVD release!

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out with my dad. One of the few movies I remember going with him. The car chase was burned into my meory. I haven't seen it since, and yet that chase scene remains with me. But it was the mood of the film, the use of light and shadow, emotion, sound, that makes it stand out for me. I was looking for it just last week and was disappointed it wasn't out. So I'm glad it's finally going to be released!

I hope the director's cut makes it just like Lucas wanted it originally, and not with his "refined" sensibilities. I'd like to see it through his eyes back then.

That's right, my second favorite movie in the whole world (after Blade Runner 1983) and it has been since it was aired on Saturday Action Afternoon Special broadcast on local TV in the early 80's. I of course was only 10 or 11 at the time and my dad and I had a great time watching science fiction together. This rare masterpiece is so special it moved me almost to tears at the end. I find most people never have heard about THX-1138 and those that have are like me, zealot's. I have run into the occasional "it bored me to tears" but this kind of comment usually comes from the "I loved Shrek" type. There is very little dialog so if you are planning on watching this while loading the dishwasher then forget it. This is (in my humble opinion) a visual symphony that breaks the fabric of movie time and space by using sound, imagery and emotion to captivate the viewer and it never ever attempts to be preachy or condescending (unlike me). Without a doubt THX is hard to digest leaving many with fear and questioning technology and our place in its future. But this film is so much more about what is truly at risk, humanity. Run don't walk and borrow, rent, buy or steal this genius truly one-of a kind pièce de résistance and see what the fifth star was truly intended for.