Movie Notes: THX 1138

July 22nd, 2008

= 4 stars

Starring Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Maggie McOmie
Directed by George Lucas

Amazon Link

Synopsis

In an oppressive, dystopian future, worker THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) leads a monotonous existence of repetitive labor and sedatives. His mate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) stops the drugs, and the two begin a downward slide leading to their imprisonment and THX’s eventual decision to escape the society.

The Good

I was won over by the film’s audacious vision. We experience it largely from THX’s point of view, and therefore it respects the audience’s intelligence by not spelling everything out. The where, how, and why of this world’s existence are never explained, it just “is.”
Technology (surveillance, drugs, mind control) is ruled by profit and is used to dehumanize and control a population. From a certain perspective, it’s not far off from where we are today.
Several chilling, beautiful moments of extreme contrast: Three prisoners emerge from stark, white isolation to a crowded hall crammed full of pedestrians, and the final moment with red - a color completely absent up until that point.
Nerdy opportunity to identify elements that would be used in Lucas’ later work: the car chase in the tunnels as an early Death Star trench sequence, the chatter over radios similar to the rebel’s assault discussions, and the cops with their weapons pre-stormtroopers and light sabers respectively.

The Bad

The first half is more cerebral than active. Almost zilch is explained, leading to 2001-esque confusion.
I watched the version with CGI enhancements by Lucas. The vast majority are very well blended into the original footage, but a few moments took me out of the movie. He added a male “milking machine” ala A Boy And His Dog. Ahem.

Conclusion

THX-1138 provides more questions than answers. Did some nuclear apocalypse occur, which forced humanity underground? Is the reason for the “shell dwellers”? Or is this entire civilization on another planet, Mars perhaps? Was that guy really a hologram? What really happened to LUH? While the mystery may partly be due to Lucas’s inexperience as a director, they improve the movie immensely, I’d like not having everything spelled out - no midichlorians here.

IMDB: THX 1138
Wikipedia: THX 1138
Rotten Tomatoes: THX 1138 89%