THX 1138 1971

William Paul, Village Voice: 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. Read more

Roger Greenspun, New York Times: 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. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Muddled and hopelessly artsy, but at least Lucas got it out of his system early on. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: This new, highly polished upgrade is a nice gift for science fiction fans. Read more

Leighton Walter Kille, Boston Globe: Lucas described THX as 'an artifact from the future,' and we're supposed to struggle for understanding. That's part of its hypnotic undertow. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: It's an impressively unified vision, with sterile set design, a wonderfully crisp and creepy sound design by Walter Murch. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie's strength is not in its story but in its unsettling and weirdly effective visual and sound style. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: If Star Wars was Lucas' vision of a Buck Rogers future, THX 1138 is his mordantly funny Metropolis. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: 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. Read more

A.D. Murphy, Variety: 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. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The whole thing feels like a hypnotic dreamscape, so luminously stark, from its white-on-white abstract sets to the wide-eyed, bald, near catatonic residents of this world. Read more