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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Old School Lucas, June 22, 2001
George Lucas's debut Based on his award-winning student short, feature cerebrally celebrates the possibility for individual freedom against all odds. In a 1984-esque white-washed future underground dystopia where sexuality is banned, all humans sport shaved heads and the same shapeless outfits as they go about their work in a mandated state of sedation, listening to exhortations to "Buy and Be Happy." Black-clad robot cops chant a mantra to their victims that "everything will be all right" and automated confessional booths emit soothing therapeutic bromides. But unbeknownst to THX 1138 (Robert Duvall), his roommate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) has been reducing their meds, resulting in their mutual discovery of love and THX's subsequent imprisonment for drug evasion and sexual misconduct. Determined to find the pregnant LUH, THX breaks out of prison with the help of his cellmate SEN 5241 (Donald Pleasence) and an escaped TV hologram (Don Pedro Colley). With fugitive pursuits strictly budgeted, THX only has to evade the robocops until the funds run out, but surveillance is omnipresent and THX's vehicle keeps overheating. Making the only film produced through the first incarnation of Francis Ford Coppola's independent studio American Zoetrope, Lucas and his small crew, including co-writer and sound editor Walter Murch, shot THX 1138 in northern California with no interference from distributor Warner Bros. When Warners saw the austere result, however, they recut the film before its release. Neither the studio's nor Lucas's cut was a popular success, but THX 1138's coolly minimalist style and story-telling gained fans on the college screening circuit, just as Stanley Kubrick's poetic 2001: A Space Odyssey had attracted a large youth audience in 1968. When Lucas returned to sci-fi after American Graffiti, he traded restraint for nostalgic fun in the film that guaranteed his creative freedom!
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63 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
THX 1138 - Sound the missing dimension, November 24, 1999
Much ignored by many reviewers, this film (THX 1138) has a ground breaking soundtrack. Assembled and Edited by Walter Murch (the Conversation), the constant babble of an electronic, cybernetic society, creates an audio montage that greatly enhances George Lucas' excellent first full production movie. THX was started as a student project and subsequently turned into a full movie with the production assistance of Francis Coppola. I originally came across this film on late night TV in 1977. Obviously, there were no videos then, but I had an audio cassette recorder connected to my tv, so for many years I had only an audio copy of the film. Clearly this has caused me to focus on the sound of the movie. If you have your tv or video connected to your HiFi (if not why not?) play the video with your HiFi on at a decent (cinema) level. You won't be disapponted by the cyberbabble - 'make the correction THX!'. Is our society going the same way as Lucas' vision? Next time you're in a shopping mall, think of this video and 'buy more now, buy more and ...be happy'.
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90 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
New scenes destroy integrity of a classic, September 8, 2005
George Lucas' film of a stark data-based future was a very poignant commentary as well as advanced filmmaking. The issues that the film brought up are just as relevant today if not more so, and the original film was a great piece of filmmaking from both an artistic and technical perspective.
However, the injection of new CGI scenes, which do not match the original film whatsoever, destroy the integrity and potency of this once classic. Although some of it is subtle, there are a lot of obvious scenes and CGI backgrounds, editing, and even characters.
Unlike films of the same era with similar themes (such as Logan's Run) which exude 'cheesiness' and kitsch (they might be fun nonetheless), THX 1138 was one that stood up well with age due to its conservative and high quality visual design, focus on story and use of existing visual references.
However, with these new scenes, the movie does seem cheesy and less believable. The scenes do not match the movie and take away from the style. They also give it today's overly literal, overdone visual cues and take away from the strong subtle tone of the movie.
Other 'director's cuts' have editing changes, usually inserting scenes that were previously taken out. This instead is a re-done movie that has taken out a lot emotionally and put back in very little.
Perhaps the director did not recall the theme of the movie regarding a society over-reliant on computers. ;)
Having the original version available on DVD would do justice to the movie that it once was.
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