THX 1138
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 11, 1971 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatMark Bell
Enough about the CGI tweaking, is this film really Lucas's unloved masterpiece? The film that got lost in the shadow of "American Graffitti" and "Star Wars" while, actually, being a better film? Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Testament to the emergence of a visually masterful filmmaker, capable of ingenious, low-tech special effects. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie's strength is not in its story but in its unsettling and weirdly effective visual and sound style. (Review of Original Release) Read full review
75
Boston GlobeLeighton Klein
For someone wanting to get noticed as a filmmaker, George Lucas couldn't have done much better than THX 1138, his 1971 feature debut that starts a limited run today in a new director's cut. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
A nice gift for science fiction fans. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The surprising thing about George Lucas's first feature (1971), a dystopian SF parable now digitally enhanced and expanded by five minutes, is how arty it seems compared to his later movies. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
It's not a question of Lucas' right to revamp his own work -- the movie simply was much better without these absurd additions. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Reportedly, Lucas has been tinkering with this "director's cut" for nearly two years, so its sound and visual elements -- which were fairly impressive to begin with -- have been markedly enhanced, while new digital backgrounds give the film a more epic scale. Still, it's an extraordinarily unengaging and tedious affair. Read full review
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