THX 1138 (1971)
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
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 3/4 |
Meditative and downbeat rather than crowd-pleasing, the film includes a few sequences that suggest the direction Lucas career later took. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Masterpiece? I’d hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A high concept window in on the direction George Lucas could have gone.
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3/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
No review available.
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3/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
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. Full Review |
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 C+ |
A modest, somber vision of the future. Full Review |
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D |
For 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. Full Review |
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B+ |
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. Full Review |
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3/5 |
No review available.
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Lucas’ bleak debut is a film markedly dissimilar from his more famous trilogy. Full Review |
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C |
A pretentious regurgitation of worn-out sci-fi cliches by a novice filmmaker who had yet to find his way. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Neglected on its initial release, this now stands as a classic science fiction movie and one of the most remarkable debuts of the 70s. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The 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. Full Review |
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A- |
A scrupulously crafted vision of benevolent oppressiveness, THX 1138 exudes a creamy hypnotism and resonates strongly. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Austere, cerebral, and sometimes maddeningly cold, it would seem that THX 1138 is the visual and tonal opposite of the space western Star Wars. Full Review |
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