[.ca] THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut: Two-Disc ...

Stop George Before He Really Goes Too Far!!:
I can't believe it. I bought this DVD before reading the reviews, expecting it to be a digitally REMASTERED director's cut in the true sense of the word. Then while watching, and seeing the glaring CGI scenes, I realize director's cut in Lucas' vocabulary means 'anachronistic CGI enhancement'. Why does George insist on doing this? I think there needs to be a psychological term created to describe what he's doing, because it's just not sane. What's next? Digitally introducing a receding hairline on Ron Howard in American Grafitti? Maybe he could digitally add more scenes of Harrison Ford in the film? This makes me so mad, I'm gonna drop some money for a VHS copy of the film so I can see the original flick, unadulterated, unmangled, unface-lifted. Oh yeah, the movie and the background docs gets 5 stars. -3 for the digital enhancement.

Has eveybody been fooled?:
In my entire life I have never met anyone who liked this movie. And by like I mean, "I sat down to watch THX1138 last night and Lord that's a good movie! I never get tired of looking at that one!" I made a similar comment this week in front of a group of people and someone came to it's defense with a rousing, "It wasn't THAT bad!" It wasn't THAT bad is the kind of comment we all make when we come to the defense of filmmakers whom we like but movies which we don't particularly care for! This whole, "It was ahead of it's time," and "It's a Forgotten Gem," is just ludicrous. Lucas put a bald man in a white room, filtered in weird sounds, suggested torture, mental as well as physical, and suddenly everybody started to say "Well it's art, and if you don't like it it's only because you don't understand it!" I understand this movie just fine. The big white room isn't visionary, it was just a way for Lucas to deal with the very low budget he had to work with. In poor man's theater people sit on chairs that don't match, pretend there's a table between them, pretend there's a bottle of wine, glasses to pour the wine in, wine to taste... People watching this kind of theater don't go around saying "it's brilliant, by not having real wine they're making a comment about reality!" No, they're making a comment about how we need to support amateur theater more! If you look at the new Star Wars films you know that the last thing Lucas wants is empty space. Every corner of the screen if filled with buzzing ships, screaming aliens, shooting stars. This is not a man who took a minimalist approach because he was trying to make a statement. This is a man who took a minimalist approach because he was nobody at the time, no one would give him any significant amount of money to make his film, so he made due with what he had. Nothing. By filming in an empty white space, he was able to put all his money into that short car chase at the end of the film instead. Can anyone honestly explain to me what a car chase is doing in a film like this anyway? I can, it's Lucas' fascination with speed, as evidence in things like the trench scene in Star Wars, the speeder-bike scene in Jedi, and over and over again. Lucas loves speed, and if he'd had any kind of budget for THX138, believe me it wouldn't have been just one race car peeling away at incredible speed, the film would have been wall to wall cars. No walls, no decor, no nothing. I can almost hear the students saying, "Oh God, look how sterile and colorless the future is. These people have lost their very souls!" And Lucas, laughing to himself in a corner and coming back with, "Yeah, that's it! That's what it means! I meant to do that!" Lucas was a young man when he made this. Originally a student film, it is the boring and pompous kind of crap that only a student would have the balls to make and only other film students would waste their breath defending. It was later expanded into this feature length film, with the help of Francis Ford Copolla (who obviously fell for the bald man in a barren world trick like everyone else), a name which of course leads everyone to think that it must have some merit. When I first saw THX I was all excited because, still being a young man and an avid Star Wars fan, I was expecting a "lost gem." Instead I got this long, muddled, incomprehensible cautionary tale (I think calling this low budget bore-fest a cautionary anything is elevating it to a status it does not deserve). When I saw it later as an adult I thought I might have a different opinion of it since I had changed my mind about so many other movies I had seen when I was young. But nope, it's still boring. This story is okay to watch once. I can imagine it was much better as a student film since it was shorter, and there really isn't enough material here for a feature, which is why it breaks down so badly. The value of a DVD after all is in how many times you're going to watch it, and THX1138 is simply not the kind of movie I can imagine anyone saying they've seen 42 times. The bonus' will be interesting, though Lucas has become so full of himself over the past few years that he's become insufferable to listen to. the other day, someone asked me what was wrong with Lucas. Why is he changing the Star Wars films. Doesn't he know what they mean to the fans. I mentioned he was so secluded on Skywalker Ranch, surrounded by people who practically worship him and think he's a genius, that he'd lost touch with reality and he has no idea how the fans really feel. The person laughed, and wanted to know what Lucas did on Skywalker ranch anyway. I said he probably walks around looking at all the knick-knacks he's collected over the years and says things like, "Oh my, I am a creative guy, aren't I?" Love of Star Wards doesn't men you have to praise everything Lucas has done. THX1138 is not his best work, is not visionary, and is not even particularly interesting. If you've never seen it borrow it from a friend before you waste money on it. If you're interested in the bonus features, which I admit I am, rent it and watch them. This is simply not a film worth owning, watching more than once, or discussing in any conversation involving serious, important works of cinema. And, what's even more disturbing, people are saying that Lucas has added CGI to this film as well, just like he has in Star Wars. Perhaps when we get back to that white room it won't be so white anymore!

THX 1138? THX, but no THX:
Okay, I got to admit, I read multiple reviews and listened to many opinions before finally watching this movie. I am an oldschool cinematography fan and will watch what most of today's audience can't even bear for more than 5 minutes. I've seen the most disturbing Italian movies and the turtle-like slow-paced Kurosawa masterpieces. Been there, done that, got a t-shirt. Then I heard about THX-1138. Well my first thought..what? George Lucas? Maybe it's as good as the original Star Wars Trilogy was too? So having spent time researching the movie prior to buying it, I went and got a copy. Well, what can I say? I'll just say it...it's crap. Ok, yes, one would argue there are hidden messages and visions of possible future, but...it's still crap. What did Lucas do? He took the infamous cliche (by then) topic of 1984ish reality and added a twist...then he looked at his own budget and realized that most scenese will have to be empty, instead of futuristic costumes he'd use cheap prisoner clothing and well everything else that he probably had in mind before he made it would have to be 'out of the picture' too. Result? An overrated not-so-masterpiece that has no acting, ripped off storyline, jumps from scene to scene and overall has no sense of fluency that is a must have in a good movie. You're thrown into an on-going reality, introduced to a personality-less prisoner and are moved, no, dragged through a predictable story until at the end you realize that, umm...THX 1138 is not even a movie, it's like a scrapbook with random ideas that should have been left on paper and forgotten. Considering the fact that even the Star Wars storyline is a kind of a rip off (though he calls it 'inspiration') from Kurosawa's early works with some sci-fying involved, one is left to wonder whether George really deserves all the fame and glory in the first place... Oh and special features/CGI? Does not save the movie a bit. Both editions are a total crap and are not worth your time unless you're a student of film and really want to see what kind of movies you SHOULDN'T make.

Never mind the 'afficiandos'...:
Some reviewers after citing their many qualifications (having seen some Italian/Japanese films etc) lambast this film for being dry, slow, not action packed enough or not original enough... I have seen enough film now that I will award a film merit based purely on the originality of its ideas. Science fiction is nothing if it doesn't suggest alternatives to our current understandings and this film presented (to me) an interesting posssible future. Is it entirely original - no. Is it derivitive and unworthy of merit - far from it. Stylistically bold I would hate to see what Lucas would have done with it (as one reveiwer suggested) with the budget and resources of todays films. I'm not impressed when vintage cinema is 'updated' with CGI that does not meld with the original material. So I would prefer if no such visuals had been added to this edition. Star Wars having strong compositions destroyed by the addition of new background CGI is a good example of a director undoing his own work. This is Science Fiction. George Lucas was responsible for Star Wars and is most well known for it. He has written/directed several such adventure movies but just because he found commercial success with films like Star Wars/Raiders that doesn't mean he would have done ANYTHING of the sort with THX 1138 (if his budget had been expanded). This is not Star Wars - get over it. The simple fact is this film would not have been made by an older, wiser and more business savvy Lucas. This is Science Fiction. It presents a stark, cold, clinical, depressing, claustraphobic future. This is the story of a man who finds his existence at odds with his nature. If you want wookies and dogfights look elsewhere - maybe the kids section.

Don't waste your money.:
Sometimes a movie is better left alone, away from the attempts of the Director to change it for a newer, more sophicated audience. A brilliantly minamalist film in it's original form, the Director's cut has been ruined with cheesy special effects and oversimplicification in an attempt to explain both plot and characters. If you have the opportunity to see both the original and the Director's cut you may agree. The original THX 1138 is difficult to find even in VHS format, but the search is worth it.