Of those who have heard of THX 1138, most know only that it was George Lucas's "student film." In fact, the student film was Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, a 15-minute essay made in 1967 at the University of Southern California. With Francis Ford Coppola's backing, Lucas assembled a talented cast and technical crew and then expanded on 4EB's Big Brother theme to create his first full-length feature, THX 1138. The result is carefully crafted, crisply edited (by Lucas), excellently scored (by Lalo Schifrin), and marvelously acted. It's just not that interesting.

The leisurely pace of THX is surprising. Compared to Star Wars, it takes its time with what is, admittedly, more cerebral material. At times Duvall sustains forward momentum solely by the force of his understated but thoroughly involved performance.

At first blush this future is an unoriginal pastiche of science fiction standbys: a computer-controlled society, downtrodden proles, and the forced use of pacifying drugs. There are interesting revisions, though. This society is not so much controlled by computers as by technology. Machines may run everything, but techies run the machines. In one scene THX is subjected to agonies from various implants while, in voice-over, two operators argue about settings and troubleshoot glitches ("Wait, this knob is loose"). This future also emphasizes commerce: The mechanized priest urges THX to buy more, and later the pursuit is carefully monitored for budget overruns.

The technical side of the movie is superb, and the leads work hard to make it work. But in the end there's not much to take away from Duvall's perseverance or Pleasence's timidity, or even from the racial symbolism of Colley's black hologram. In an adventure yarn like Star Wars that would be fine, but here something deeper is required.