You won't be disappointed!

Boring

Better Late Then Never

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A big part of what makes Rogue One so great is the return of a long-missing element of human desperation and sacrifice. We haven't seen or felt this since specific scenes in Empire, and certain finale's as in Jedi. Rogue one feels hurried, almost panicked, dramatic, and violent from the start, and builds that rhythm all the way to the end. Its taken a very long time to get back to this kind of stark story telling that you can see in its most coarse, maybe unrefined, but piercing form in THX1138.I think Lucas entered cinema on a high note with THX1138, had all his best, most potent ideas lined up an delivered them without apology...or explanation, and has spent the rest of his career trying to sell his ideas where he once just beat the audience with them. Maybe it has something to do with film in the late 70s, or maybe just being young behind the camera, but you feel the frailty of human life and the ability of one man to stop the motor of the world at the same time, which are tough ideas to get into commercial film.I would argue that the limitations of the times made THX1138 and Star Wars so great, and pushed the crew to come up with ideas and visual translations that had incredible legs. I hope forthcoming Star Wars films and their creators keep looking for that uneasy chord and hit it hard, and I think anyone going into one of these projects on any level - from production to acting, should consider Luca's film-school project carefully.

Version I saw: UK DVD Director's Cut (2004)Actors: 6/10Plot/script: 4/10Photography/visual style: 6/10Music/score: 7/10Overall: 5/10I'll be honest, getting an insight on the rise and fall of George Lucas was not the reason I decided to watch his first film, but it was undoubtedly on my mind during the movie.One element of the director's controversy was immediately apparent: as he did with the original Star Wars trilogy, Lucas could not resist going back and tinkering with this film. Beginning at the very start, the 2004 director's cut has several CGI additions to shots. It's unnecessary, intrusive, and quite annoying, and it seemed to me well below the standard of 2004 technology too.Lucas has always been fascinated by the technical aspects of film-making, and some argue that this is to the exclusion of more human components such as plot, dialogue and characters. It's also evident in the technical companies he founded like sound engineering group THX (named partly after this very film) and visual effects gurus Industrial Light & Magic. It is worth noting that the sound editing and reproduction on this movie is excellent, making great use of Lalo Schifrin's ominous, synth-heavy score.The story of a dystopian future is laden with satire, very much an angry young man's kind of behaviour. It is interesting to see what became such an establishment figure being so edgy. If the phrase "Wake up sheeples!" had existed then, it would have been applied to THX 1138.I have to say though, the plot doesn't actually make a lot of sense. The storytelling style is experimental, which is very much forgivable for people at this early stage in their careers, but it doesn't ultimately work, and that fatally handicaps the movie. I wasn't sure what was going on most of the time, why it was going on, or why I should care.Does all this tell us anything about why the Star Wars prequels failed so disastrously? Not much, to be honest. They are so different in so many ways that comparison is hard. They are at opposite ends of the scale financially (clearly a preoccupation in THX 1138, judging by the number of times 'budgets' are mentioned within the plot), in aims, chronologically and thematically. Perhaps, though, there is some basis for a suggestion of a man who lived his life and career having less of an insight into real people than theoretical people, and much less than into the mechanics of the films he built around them.

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.

Watched THX-1138 Featuring Robert Duvall(Fenians Rainbow) as THX-1138, Maggie McOmie(Young Goodman Brown) as LUH 3417, Donald Pleasence(You Only Live Twice) as SEN 5241, Don Pedro Colley(Beneath The Planet Of The Apes) as Hologram SRT. Before there was Ex- Machina or The Island The amazing Lucas created another Sci-fi Called THX-1138 4EB this is the feature adaptation of his work which is Brilliant also Loved the How Love and sexual intercourse were forbidden it was an interesting angle as well .Producing By Francis Ford Coppola(Apocalypse Now!) Amazing Cinematography By David Meyers(Woodstock) ,Costume Design By Donald Longhurst and Screenplay/Direction By George Lucas (Look At Life) , An Underrated Sci-Fi Spectacle From The Master 8/10