THX 1138 (1971)

THX 1138: Directed by George Lucas. With Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie. In the 25th century, a time when people have designations instead of names, a man, THX 1138, and a woman, LUH 3417, rebel against their rigidly-controlled society.

“Before u0026quot;Star Wars,u0026quot; George Lucas had another vision of the future, particularly in a long time from now in a galaxy that happens to be our own. u0026quot;THX 1138u0026quot; is his Distopia film, his u0026quot;1984u0026quot; or u0026quot;Brave New World.u0026quot; Itu0026#39;s directly inspired from those works, borrowing the ideas of drugs to sedate human emotion (Brave New World) and sex being illegal (1984). Itu0026#39;s a visionary work, not a revolutionary one, but for the early 70s, it impresses. Lucas manages to bring his concept to life, even if itu0026#39;s not exactly as thrilling or interesting as what the Star Wars saga would be.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTHX 1139 (Robert Duvall) is an ideal member of this u0026quot;utopianu0026quot; community where religion means stay calm and do as youu0026#39;re told. When his roommate, LUH, begins to change out his sedatives with other pills, he begins to fall in love with her. Consequently, the u0026quot;big brotheru0026quot; equivalent finds out, and THX is taken captive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;THXu0026quot; can be boring at times. Though you can tell Lucas has put a lot of thought into this world, he doesnu0026#39;t care to offer any help to those struggling to make sense of it. There is no clarification dialogue — you have to pay close attention to the images and surroundings to understand it. This is admirable, but makes things difficult for most viewers. The film therefore drags at points not necessarily because whatu0026#39;s going on isnu0026#39;t interesting, but the viewer is missing contextual help to illuminate the action on screen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFans of the genre will appreciate Lucasu0026#39; contribution and his imagination, but probably not love it. The themes are light and the drama low. Thereu0026#39;s no sense of danger or incredibly sympathy for the main characters. One thing to note is not to watch the Special Edition. As Lucas loves to do, the SE goes back and adds CGI to the film, which is a travesty. Part of what makes these movies so great is that they offer a vision of the future from the perspective of 30 years ago and todayu0026#39;s technology doesnu0026#39;t interfere. Do your best to get a non-remastered copy.”