Thx 1138
It's sometime in the future in a state controlled society, where conformity and homogeneity are the rule. What is also the rule is that the populace follows the wants of the faceless state without question. How this is achieved is through a mandatory drug regimen, which also suppresses human desire, with sexual intercourse and human relationships banned. The law of the state is policed by a force of robocops. The physical environment is totally within a manufactured enclosure, what being outside of this unknown. THX 1138 is a loyal subject, he who goes about his business as a skilled factory working building robocops. And even when he begins to have strange feelings, he does what is obliged by going to the state run confessional, which further brainwashes through its reinforced mantra of happiness, loyalty and understanding. THX 1138 is given a glimpse into the other side through his computer matched and thus appointed female roommate, LUH 3417, and her surveillance colleague SEN 5241, LUH 3417's vision which may be something that THX 1138 may want to continue despite its illegality. If THX 1138 is able to keep his activities from the authorities and the robocops, he will have to figure out what options are available to him.
15 December 1944, Brooklyn, New York, USA
February 4, 1947 in Brierfield, Lancashire, England, UK
5 October 1919, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, UK
3 February 1938, Los Angeles, California, USA
23 September 1940, San Francisco, California, USA
16 October 1926, Sacramento, California, USA
11 January 1924, Meridian, Mississippi, USA
13 January 1931, Portland, Oregon, USA
14 July 1939, Fresno, California, USA
27 April 1937, Oregon, USA
11 September 1946, Sweet Home, Oregon, USA
11 May 1942, Berkeley, California, USA
11 July 1939, Los Angeles, California, USA
5 January 1931, San Diego, California, USA
15 July 1945, USA
May 07, 2009
Tedious pacing contributes to the confusing nature of the movie, but George Lucas' restored "THX-1138" is essential viewing to distinguish his artistic vision before he transformed Hollywood.
June 05, 2007
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.
September 13, 2004
Lucas described THX as 'an artifact from the future,' and we're supposed to struggle for understanding. That's part of its hypnotic undertow.
June 05, 2007
Meditative and downbeat rather than crowd-pleasing, the film includes a few sequences that suggest the direction Lucas career later took.
January 19, 2014
long and cumbersome
January 18, 2013
The empty space surrounding the vulnerable man emphasizes the exertion involved rather than the goal of escape: like the hologram who came to life because he wanted to, THX finally achieves his humanity by an assertion of will.
June 24, 2006
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.
January 01, 2011
Slow sci-fi drama for die hard Lucas fans only.
December 06, 2005
Masterpiece? I'd hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer.
September 13, 2004
The whole thing feels like a hypnotic dreamscape, so luminously stark, from its white-on-white abstract sets to the wide-eyed, bald, near catatonic residents of this world.
November 02, 2006
Enhancing the film with special effects and a clearer presentation, Lucas has turned something that was relatively unwatchable into something that can endure as a sci-fi classic.
May 09, 2005
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.
