THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]

THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] Review

Having been an avid Star Wars fan since I was a kid, I was always interested in checking out this George Lucas film. Now that I am able to collect a lot of my favorite sci-fi I finally added this DVD to my personal collection and watched it all the way through. While I only caught bits and pieces of it on TV over the years it was a revelation on DVD. I know George tinkered around with it to give us his definitive director's cut, and though I don't remember everything that was originally in it, I think whatever he did added tremendously to it by fleshing out a little more (à la Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back special edition) thus giving it more of a sense of timelessness. Not necessarily a bad thing considering it is already 40 years old. It doesn't give you any sense of where you are (unless you're familiar with B.A.R.T.), just a consumer-driven dystopia in the vein of Brave New World and Logan's Run and probably countless other lesser known sci-fi stories. You almost feel as if you are seeing a working person's life on a Star Wars world under the cruel rule of the Galactic Empire. Perhaps this is what life was like for those who worked in the Death Star or on some other distant world on the edge of the Outer Rim. Oh and those cars are awesome, Lucas knows his cars and racing to be sure! Great to see legendary Robert Duvall (Apocalypse Now, Falling Down, The Road) and Donald Pleasance (Halloween) in this of course. Was also surprised by the appearance of an obviously much younger Sid Haig from the Rob Zombie horror films House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, playing another sociopath of course.

I hope George applies this film style to a more mature Star Wars film. You'll be slightly shocked by what you see from the otherwise PG/PG-13 filmmaker in this one. Hopefully George will make or will allow someone else to make some Star Wars films in this style, I'm thinking a trilogy of films set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. He mentions wanting to return to this earlier style of filmmaking in his commentary. Perhaps a smaller-budget more independent style Shadows of the Empire, Dark Forces, Force Unleashed trilogy or tweakquel if you will (between prequel and sequel) that would take the kid gloves off for the original fans and show more of a character study of the lives of lesser known anti-heroes in the Star Wars world such as Kyle Katarn or Starkiller. Anyways, this is a must have for any sci-fi or Star Wars fan but make sure you know what version you want. I don't think there are any real heinous changes like Greedo shooting at Han Solo first in the Star Wars special editions (unless you take issue with replacing most of the little people at the end with some digital space monkeys for a few seconds - I didn't mind it at all) but fans of whatever the original contained may wish to have both versions, which is what should have been packaged with the blu-ray because if it had I would have bought the newly released blu-ray instead of the much cheaper DVD.

THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] Overview

A chilling exploration of the future is also a compelling examination of the present in George Lucas’s THX 1138, starring Robert Duvall as a man whose mind and body are controlled by the government. THX makes a harrowing attempt to escape from a world where thoughts are controlled, freedom is an impossibility and love is the ultimate crime.

THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] Specifications

George Lucas's enigmatic feature film debut expands on a student film he made at USC. Created under the wing of producer Francis Ford Coppola, this movie is a bleak vision of a world in which technology, not man, is the ultimate dictator. Efficiency overrides every other aspect of human life, as people are reduced to code names and their lives are contained, monitored, and manipulated for the sake of the system. Featuring unsettling performances by Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasance, and Maggie McOmie, THX 1138 does not attempt to explain how things became this way; rather, it utilizes the alienation of its characters, the stifling white-on-white imagery of its sterilized society, and the claustrophobic, droning sound design to emphasize the dangers of a world reliant on soulless technology. Even though this is not a film one will want to take in repeatedly, THX 1138 merits attention because it is that rare film that uses images and sounds--rather than relying heavily on dialogue--to communicate its dark prophecy. --Bryan Reesman

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