The first big screen commercial film of George Lucas 'THX 1138' is now back in a re-made production. I did not yet form a clear opinion about directors re-visiting their films decades after the original production. It's certainly their right to do it, but I cannot refrain from suspecting that this shows some sort of dilution of their creative force. In other words, I would rather prefer George Lucas doing something completely new, rather then re-doing old films of his.

However, 'THX 1138' is a visionary movie, almost a masterpiece. I liked it. It is one of the first Orwellian films in describing a world of the future controlled by an omni-present mind-control machine. These theme means a lot of me, and for many people who have spent part of their lives in a system that tried to create 'a new man' by using a system of control and repression that was targeting towards suppression of individual freedom and personality. What is however very strong in 'THX 1138' is the visual quality of the world created by Lucas. This is what cinema is for, this is what real art is about - creating a new world from existing materials, transporting the viewers in an alternate world of the future using the cinema art means. Although realized about 20 years before computer graphics in films, the vision is fresh and impressing.

An ageless Robert Duvall does here one of the best roles of his career. Donald Pleasance is a very good counter-part. I liked very much Maggie McOmie, how does it come that this film did not launch her in a star career? It actually looks like this is the only film she did, according to IMDb.

The extra features on the DVD are interesting and bring a lot of new information for fans of science fiction, of the 70s films and of Lucas. The film itself gets 9 out of 10 on my personal scale.

Sexual contact of any kind, against the law. Pills instead of food. All hair, shaves. All body coverings, white and loose, with the government telling you through passive/aggressive brainwashing what emotions are right for you. No anger at any time. Radiation disasters happen, and a calm voice tells you not to worry. This is a bleak view of a future where personalities are not welcome and everything you do is monitored. Pretty save stuff from an era that also have us "Fahrenheit 911", "Soylent Green" and "Logan's Run". Those are films I could appreciate, because they told a linear story, but the story here is hidden in incidents and assumptions that left me frustrated, confused and I must admit, bored. It's not horrible, but other than the fact that a fairly young Robert Duvall is desperately trying to escape this hell on earth universe didn't give me enough interest to find it intriguing. Yes, we're in a changing world now, politically, socially and economically, but we're far from "A Clockwork Orange" that this tries to emulate in more ways than one. Strictly for the science fiction obsessed. Others will not be impressed.

In an undefined future, a dystopian underground society is oriented to production and consumption in the malls. The population is controlled by drugs and people do not feel affection or sympathy for the others. Sexual intercourse are absolutely forbidden and roommates are chosen by the computer. Faceless androids are responsible for the surveillance of the behavior of the dwellers and people pray in Unichapels for their god OMM 0910 that responds through recorded electronic messages.

The worker THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) handles radioactive materials in a factory and lives with his roommate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie). When she decides to stop using drugs, she becomes lucid and replaces the drugs of her partner for harmless pills. THX becomes emotional again and falls in love with LUH. He plans to escape with LUH to the superstructure, where they expect to live in freedom. But when SEN 5241 (Donald Pleasance) manipulates the computer to live with THX, he reports a complaint to the authorities and SEN is arrested. When THX commits a mistake in his work, the Powers That Be discover that THX and LUH are not taking drugs and having sexual intercourse and they are sentenced to be imprisoned in a weird white place. THX and SEN plan to escape with the hologram SRT (Don Pedro Colley) and THX discover that LUH was killed by the authorities and he decides to find the way out to the surface.

"THX 1138" was a cult-movie in Brazil in the earlier 70's; however watching it again in 2012, I found it a plagiarism of the Logan's Run novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson that was published in 1967 and become a cult-movie in 1976. "THX 11238" is also very similar to George Orwell's "1984"; Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"; and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".

The narrative is boring in many moments and the excessive white landscapes are tedious. Anyway, this is a film mandatory for any cinema lover or student. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "THX 1138"