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What happened to the George Lucas who made this film? Why has he not retained some of the avante garde storytelling that he seems so adept at here? This isn't a great film but it is a beautiful hi tech art film. Very European in its cold, stark compositions. Especially interesting is the sound design though. A lot of the static and noise is familiar as Lucas uses variations of it later in the Star Wars films. My favorite scene is a shot of a video of Robert Duvall in prison and you hear the voices of two workers, one teaching the other how to use the equipment. Their conversational tone is dry and mundane as they fiddle with controls that cause Duvall to contort and writhe in pain.

Somehow this is the first time I've seen this film and unfortunately the DVD contains a version that Lucas has of course touched up with updated special effects. In some cases the new footage stands out even on a first viewing but I'm not quite sure exactly what is and what isn't original in this version.

Posted at December 30, 2004 12:16 AM