The most remarkable thing about THX 1138 is its unsettling sound design, pieced together by Lucas and Walter Murch.
Comment
09/10/04
THX 1138 (1971)
89
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:44
Fresh:39
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: George Lucas' feature debut presents a spare, bleak, dystopian future, and features evocatively minimal set design and creepy sound effects.
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: In George Lucas's fascinating debut feature (based on his short student film), the filmmaking wunderkind creates a futuristic, underground world in which bald, drone-like workers are forced to take... [More]
Starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie
Director: George Lucas
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Reviews for THX 1138
Visually it is often extraordinary, with Lucas playing on perspectives and dislocations throughout, nowhere more brilliantly than in the 'prison' represented by a limbo of whiteness that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see.
06/24/06
A pretentious regurgitation of worn-out sci-fi cliches by a novice filmmaker who had yet to find his way.
10/19/04
an instant classic of dystopic angst
09/12/04
Masterpiece? I’d hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer.
12/06/05
One of the slowest and most deliberately minimalist science fiction films ever made.
09/14/04
May be a naively simple variation on that other George—Orwell—but it remains a dazzling triumph of creativity and style over financial limitations.
09/09/04
The movie's strength is not in its story but in its unsettling and weirdly effective visual and sound style.
09/10/04
Top CriticNeglected on its initial release, this now stands as a classic science fiction movie and one of the most remarkable debuts of the 70s.
10/06/04
I have a good many reservations about the film's ideas, but they are greatly outweighed by my admiration for a technical virtuosity that by fair means and foul achieves exceptional emotional intensity at the same time.
05/09/05
Top CriticFor a film that warns about the dangers of consumerism, one can only wonder how many more times will Mr. Lucas force this lesser work of his upon an uncaring public before he lets the film slip back into obscurity.
04/14/05
Muddled and hopelessly artsy, but at least Lucas got it out of his system early on.
01/01/00
Top CriticAustere, cerebral, and sometimes maddeningly cold, it would seem that THX 1138 is the visual and tonal opposite of the space western Star Wars.
09/19/04
Lucas described THX as 'an artifact from the future,' and we're supposed to struggle for understanding. That's part of its hypnotic undertow.
09/13/04
Top CriticHolds up remarkably well.
09/17/04
Valuable in illustrating what stylish imagination without much cash can accomplish for starters, even in California.
09/11/04
With political paternalism rampant at both extremes of the spectrum, Lucas is onto something. In any case, we'll know for sure in about a generation.
06/05/07
Top CriticThe thought put into the world of THX 1138 clearly shows a respect for the audience who crave to know more than just basic plot and character development.
10/06/04
Dramatic interest do waver at times . . .
01/01/00
THX 1138 shows that Lucas was once interested in letting actors act, and in letting the audience think for themselves. It reveals just how much his technological toys have crippled him as a storyteller.
02/26/05
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