Maybe I am missing something, but what is with all the amazing reviews for this movie? THX 1138 is by far one of the most boring films I have ever seen, and I am not going to sit here and insist an audience go see a movie that they are going to regret spending their money on once they have left the theater, or with 30 minutes left in the film for that matter.
I am not sure if it is George Lucas’ ego or the desire for more money that drove the decision to release a director’s cut of this film, but one or the other has got to sit back and evaluate this film from the general audience member’s perspective.
I attended a screening of this film, which was held in what could be deemed the best theater on the West Coast, the Cinerama in Seattle, a.k.a. Paul Allen’s theater. Equipped with a state-of-the-art sound system and a massive screen I was pumped and ready to see what Mr. Star Wars had for me. Once the credits began to roll (backwards mind you) cheers grew from the audience, and at the site of Lucas’ name even more fervor, then the movie started.
It took a little while but with about 30 minutes to go the exits started to open as several people got to do what I most desired… they left.
As THX 1138 (Duval) and LUH 3417 (McOmie) lead you through the lives of just two of the people trapped in a “robot utopia” where sex is discouraged and sedatives are encouraged, your mind automatically begins to wonder where the movie is going to take these two bald tools.
Soon you learn that THX 1138 and LUH 3417 have decided to forego their medication and ultimately end up pregnant, a very big no-no, and attempt to escape the underground futuristic society. Then the robots appear, and I am not judging the fact that these are just people dressed in black with silver facemasks, I am judging these robots based on the fact that they were pathetic.
George Lucas did a great job of creating a futuristic world, but in this world where he created the evil robots and the good humans he forgot to convince the audience that there were opposing sides to the story. While the robots are obviously the ones you should be rooting against, they are so far from intimidating it is funny. With their ridiculous electric wands you almost feel sorry for them.
Just the same you really never connect with the humans either, while you do hope they are able to escape this horrible situation, in the end you really just don’t care.
As far as this being a director’s cut, I really can’t help you because I haven’t seen the original. I may be able to add a little bit more insight on that once I get the DVD review up, which I am not exactly excited to do.
THX 1138 attempts to deliver that big brother feel and make you question a ton of things, but overall it is one big bore and an example of a director with a vision that came together in Star Wars, not a director that had a hit on his hands from the beginning.
