THX-1138

Despite his scenes of bland horror, Lucas offers the 25th century as a arch, campy place, a conception not satiric enough to be accepted as comedy and not quite insightful enough to be taken seriously.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A modest, somber vision of the future.

It seems to me to be a lethargic and redundant debut film by Lucas, from which I get the feeling that there is almost no hook in his minimalist-looking social science-fiction dystopia. [Full review in Spanish]

THX beat the odds. Lucas beat the odds. They won the game. But as for the rest of us…? Work hard, increase production, prevent accidents. And be happy!

The obtuse script doesn't help, but it looks wonderful and Lucas conjures up a genuinely chilling air.

…the glitz and glamour of the CGI Phantom Menace add-ons featured in the director's cut of THX-1138 goes completely against everything that the aethetic of the original film supposedly stands for&#59; it’s an absolute desecration of the text…