I don't like it

[pvollan]

I've seen the new release in a theater, and I have finally decided that I don't like what George has done to it. It's a new movie, entirely redone with new scenes and new editing. There were a few things put in that worked, like near the beginning when they make it obvious that THX is masturbating while watching TV. There are far more things that are indefensible, like that godd**n "highway" scene in which THX's car bounces around through traffic before entering the tunnel. There is nothing about the original movie that would lead us to believe that such a place exists, in fact it ruins the "claustrophobia" (as some folks have put it). My father said it looked like a video game; it had nothing to do with the plot and was just put in to give the movie some extra "whiz bang" which it was never supposed to have in the first place. It's too fast, too "action packed", and it's going to look real dated, real fast, in fact it already looks dated in my book. Then he had to needlessly mess with the "shell-dwellers" at the end, turning them into some kind of fakey black CGI thing that looks like it belongs in a video game instead of the hairy dwarves they're supposed to be. So, you see, by the time THX climbed out into the sunset, I was less than enthused about this movie. Perhaps one of the things I liked about this movie was it's inaccessability, that is, it's a bit weird and difficult to watch, (well not for me but for some folks anyway). I think George partly has tried to make this movie easier to swallow. Does anybody know if the New Edition (that's what it is, not a "restored director's cut") is actually longer? And by how much? It seems to me that the action on screen just happened faster, like the editing was tightened up, or maybe, just maybe, some scenes were digitally sped up just a touch? Before I was ready to run around telling everybody "you gotta see this movie", now I just not so sure.

[SG]

I couldn't agree more with the things you found offensive about this re-rendered version.  I'm trying to be happy about the fact that a double disc set of THX 1138 exists.
Now, you go and get me going.
I loved what he did with the explosion scenes.  Viewing the carnage via monitor screens was subtle and effective.
You're right on the money about the added freeway shots.  They are awful and destroy the pace of the whole scene.
In fact, this is the biggest problem with his reworking of his films.  He litterally FN ruins his previous excellent sense of story telling for the sake of some new WIZZ - BANG Bullshit.
And the new SW films are GAWD AWFUL for similar reasons.

What's with that guy doing a superman like leap off of that scaffolding?

In the original film, after he tells LUH that "no one knows.  Nobody knows.", he goes into a room and those people are staring at him.  It's a beautiful metephoric scene addressing his true paranoia.  Now those same staring people are litterally watching him and LUH have sex on a monitor.
You should hear Lucas claim (in the commentary) that he might get back to film making like THX 1138.  I seriously doubt he has it in him.

So the truth be told - I am dissapointed.  But, Hey, at least now you don't have to crane your neck trying to make out SEN's mumbling (Donald Pleasance's awesome performance) thanks to the remastered audio!

[wwjd]

Just bought/watched the DVD.  Once again, Lucas adds crap to fill in the blank spaces which were best left blank to instill the feeling of dark underground isolation.   More people, more cars, more gizmo's, more scenes revealing the plot easier for the moron masses.  I ENJOYED trying to figure out what the heck was going on, now it's all explained step by step and displayed for the simple mind.    Thanks for "StarWars-izing" it, George.  Someone really ought to take his keys before he kills someone.

There are MANY more changes than the few shots that were displayed from colorization, to dialog changes, differences in the monitors,  extra scenes added to dumb it down and explain stuff that you used to have to use your brain to figure out,, more scenery - and most of it is STUPID and OBVIOUS CGI stuff!!!  When will they learn that we can SEE CGI no matter how hard they try to make it look good?
THX-1138 had a unique look and feel to it, but now it's just another "Things to Come" "Metropolis" wannabee and lost it's originality.

I don't care if he wanted to 'update' it, just please, for God's sake, give us the original cut along with it.  Give us the option.

I's sick of "director's cuts"!!!   Sorry, Mr Director if you had issues with the people that laoned you a billion dollars to MAKE th emovie, jsut give the people that want to BUY it, BOTH versions.  I'd buy a second DVD that was NOT the Director's cut, in a second.

Thank God I still own the original version on digital LASER DISK.  I can make my OWN DVD

[jack_t]

Well, not only are all 3 of you wrong, as typical, you're nothing more than a bunch of whining babies. The Digital Bits, Moriarty and Alexandra at Aint It Cool News, all praised the changes saying not only are they seamless, they actually do nothing to hurt the film. In fact, they make the film more accessible. The changes to this film are tastefully done, do nothing to destroy the film, and actually make sense. But leave it to some people to cry about.

And just to make SG look like the hypocrite nitwit that he is, here are some of his quotes from another thread he started.

"I had the fortune to see the advanced release of the DVD through a friend. All I can say is that the film maintains it's integrity. There is a lot of CGI. A couple of reworked shots are a bit overdone in typical GL fasion, but most are very seamless."

"I am very pleased with this DVD. All my ranting and bitching was prejudiced fears based on my opinions of the STAR WARS series.
I should chill out for a change."

So SG, in one thread you claim the film's integrity is intact, and most of the changes are seamless. You even state that you are very pleased with the DVD and your fears were unfounded. Yet, here you are bitching and whining like a baby.

How do you explain it? You were either blatantly lying then, or you're blatantly lying now. Well, I'll explain it for you. You are a stupid HYPOCRITE! You just love whining about something.

Quite frankly, none of you are fit to question George Lucas. None of you know how to make a damn film. He's forgotten more about filmmaking than you nitwits will ever know. If you all are such master filmmakers, then get up off your sorry ass and make your own film.

I personally hope Lucas never releases the originals, and I hope it pisses all of you off. I hope it eats at you every single day.

George Lucas has ruined nothing, and all these other sites that are praising the changes are right, and you idiots are wrong. Typical idiots who aren't happy unless they are unhappy.

[PVS 1972]

I doubt you'd talk to anyone like that outside of the internet Jack, come on, be civil, these people just want to see the original of THX on DVD, it's not a crime.

I appreciate you might prefer the new version, not everyone does, or wants to.

Ever seen a movie, liked it, then had things eat away at you afterwards, and the doubt sets in?  Doesn't make anyone a lier to say they enjoyed it at the time, then had doubts later.

[IJT-7992]

I personally hope Lucas never releases the originals, and I hope it pisses all of you off. I hope it eats at you every single day...

Heh! Oh my god, where to begin... hee hee! Look, if it - ha ha! Wait a minute... hee hee ho ho!! Alright, all I should really have to say, is... HA HA HAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Why don'tcha go outside for a while, JackT?  :lol:

[DM Corleone]

Does the name "jack_t" refer to Jack Torrance from The Shining?  :twisted:


  "All work and no play makes Jack . . . something something. .  ."  :evil:

Take two red pills.

In ten minutes, take two more.

Help is on the way!   :shock:

-Don

[SG]

OK, JACK_T -
I admit I find it discomforting at times that I choose to rant about what I percieve to be the shortcomings of a stupid movie as if it makes any difference in the grand scheme of my life.  That's why I tried to just look at this DVD as half full.  I tried.
But - since you choose to be even WORSE than a whining baby, coming in here like some brat and being absolutely ridiculous - I can only respond thusly:
If you can watch Lucas' re-releases and honestly say that he doesn't screw up certain SCENES.  Certain SHOTS, by throwing the pace out of whack or ditching character developement.  And that SOME of these reworked shots are way to obvious- if this doesn't make you scratch your head and wonder why?  And then tell me I'll never produce because I don't know anything.  You must have a real hard on for Lucas or maybe the whole industry.  I don't know what your problem is.  oh, well...

[SG]

AND you've taken what I said out of context.
I was really afraid that Lucas was going to do a commentary that would be largely about the changes he made to the film.  I was VERY PLEASED with the commentary and the bonus AMERICAN ZOETROPE: THE EARLY YEARS feature.
However there are some issues that Lucas did not address.  Perhaps he just got carried away and didn't realize he didn't mention them.  Maybe he left them out because he wanted to avoid talking about it.  We'll never know.
Two things: he didn't really explain about what he felt SRT was.  He made great points about this character's general prototype - but didn't make it clear whether or not he was actually a hologram or not.  Remember he was hungry?  This was very clever - "where'd you guys come from?  oh, well, it doesn't matter.  Umm, is that food?  I'm starving.  Do you mind?  Yummm...   ah...  oh, mmm..."  then later he tells THX he's a hologram?
I think he just thinks he's a hologram.  I will always wonder what this character's true back story is.  And that's why it's brilliant.
I always find it unusual that film makers actually do forget so much about their own work.
The other thing he TOTALLY avoided (intentionaly or not) is that everybody in THX's immediate percievable society is white.  But all the "holograms" are black.
I'd love to know what that's all about, though I have my suspicions...

[wwjd]

just ignore the troll.  

I'm new here so I don't wanna come off like a rag... but

HE PUT FEELERS ON THE LIZARD IN THE ELECTRONICS ROOM!!!

If I could post a pic I would.
I see no ENHANCEMENT there... just the same old "Gotta add SOMETHING to EVERY shot."   And the add in's are far from seemless.  I have a pretty decently  setup glass monitor and ALL the added graphics are off colored or contrasted enough to make it look like a bad matt background from the 70's.   Another thing I notice is that everything that CAN move, DOES move.  Look at all the elevators or trams in the background that grab your eye.... surely SOME of the elevators could be stopped - they are ALL moving?  Again, gotta add SOMETHING everywhere in the background because we can.  Half of the drabness in the THX world existed BECAUSE of the blank, empty, non-moving backgrounds.

Brightly colored cars:  bright red Ferarri looking ones, and other bright colors.  Yes in 71 with a limited budget, they got some cool looking rides to JET-out, but adding all these extra bright cars in a drab, colorless, non-individualistic world is WAY out of context.  Think about it.   Again, ruining the feel of the original - so this was Lucases ORIGINAL VISION:   Make all the people and the world all whtie and sterile or dirty gray yet have these beautifully colored vehicles?  Nice consistancy there.

The extra large shots of big, roomy cavernous highways, elevators and trams:  destroys the cramped feeling of everyone being underground in this tubed up world where everything is just big enough to be efficent.  IF that was his ORIGINAL VISION, why wasn't there a bad matt painting in the original to show the huge, omnious caverns they lived in?  It was more like a MALL than a dungeon or tomb like it used to be.  I'm surprised I didn't see a sign that said  "The GAP"

He put a monitor over top of the 'reporting station' so we could READ who THX was reporting.... because, we the audience, are too f'ing stupid to use our brain and figure it out for ourselves.  The lack of explination made the first cut more interesting.  Now it's another movie for Millenial Idiots.

I have loved the original cut forever and know it inside and out.  I'm gald they released cleaned up version, but the important message has been toned down and confused wtih misdirection thanks to "Gee, lets add SOMETHING to every little scene".   I used to suggest to friends they watch it about 8 times for the peoples slow witted society to really sink in.  Now they just have to watch it once to partially understand it and just find it kinda boring.  Nothing to come back for - it's all EXPLAINED and overall not that thrilling.
Anyway, there are SO MANY MORE additions than what that pictorial shows.  If anyone is interested, and you can host some pics I'd be glad to do many more comparisons.

Superman leap:  yeah, what the heck?   Whoever looks at their CGI and goes "Yeah, that works and looks real"  needs to be replaced QUICKLY.  WE don't fall for that crap.  EVER!

Replaced the "Shell Dwellers" with MONKEY'S??  What the ^#$@!!!  That USED to be a KEY ELEMENT in the story about misfit PEOPLE in that society.
Gah!

Feelers on the lizard............. pfsshhh!

And Troll-boy, get me some backing and I WILL make movies with vision and consistancy that I WON'T re-edit 20 years from now!   [spit!]

[wwjd]

lets call this new "Enhancement" system:   "Lucacide"

[SG]

I think George Lucas seems like a nice enough guy.

I hate ragging on him.  But what he's doing is ridiculous.
The few people who've poked their heads out to say that many of us are a bunch of crybaby bitches certainly have a point.
All of this CGI re-release stuff is unprecedented.  This is a new era.  And Lucas is waving the flag for a new generation!
I'm being sarcastic.
If he'd fix little things - like maybe just touching up the police so they look even more like metal and less like painted plastic - that would probably be great.  But that's not what he's doing at all!  he's going bananas!

What can ya' do?  We just gotta move on.  Most people don't care about this film anyway.  And those who are happy with the new version - let 'em be happy.
And buy.
Buy more now.