George Lucas was in his early 20s when he shot "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB". This must be taken into consideration when evaluating this 15-minute short film. He has worked on a couple other films before already, but unfortunately this seemingly was not a great help in improving this short film, maybe his most famous early work.
It's the year 2187 and we see a man running through a futuristic labyrinth, in which he is under constant surveillance by a higher authority. From start to finish, the audience is confronted with scary choir voices, undefined blinding light effects and radio voices. Sometimes less can be more and I wish Lucas would have taken that approach. The torture scenes and depicting the protagonist equal to a lab rat made for quite some shock value, but there was not a single point in this short film, where I really felt the character's helplessness and claustrophobic scare, which would have been necessary to really experience his delight when he finally manages to break free.
I've watched quite a few very early short films from notable directors and this is one of the weaker examples. Hard to believe that only 10 years later, Lucas brought to life the probably most renowned movie franchise of all time.
It's the year 2187 and we see a man running through a futuristic labyrinth, in which he is under constant surveillance by a higher authority. From start to finish, the audience is confronted with scary choir voices, undefined blinding light effects and radio voices. Sometimes less can be more and I wish Lucas would have taken that approach. The torture scenes and depicting the protagonist equal to a lab rat made for quite some shock value, but there was not a single point in this short film, where I really felt the character's helplessness and claustrophobic scare, which would have been necessary to really experience his delight when he finally manages to break free.
I've watched quite a few very early short films from notable directors and this is one of the weaker examples. Hard to believe that only 10 years later, Lucas brought to life the probably most renowned movie franchise of all time.