Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

In a sense, this is kind of like the movie Terry Gilliam was born to do.

Terry Gilliam is an awesome visual director in the same way that Tim Burton is an awesome visual director: every single frame bleeds its own distinct style of beauty, but sometimes the story just doesn't hold it up, or the stylistic elements get in the way. However, what could possibly be better to found Gilliam's surreal psychedelic imagery on than Hunter S. Thompson's story of his exploration into the American Dream? Still, it's a hard thing to pull off, translating Thompson to film, and while Gilliam does succeed, it's largely from the support of the incredible cast working under him to work out. Johnny Depp and Benecio Del Toro especially have to really work on exaggerating when needed, slowing down when necessary through what feels like hundreds of hallucinogenic scenes with just barely enough narrative structure to pull them together.

Of course, the outcome is pretty fantastic, but it sets this movie squarely in the "love it or hate it" section of the world's video library, which is pretty much Gilliam's career simplified anyways.

--PolarisDiB

For all those of you who decry this movie for being pointless and lacking soul, that was the point! This is an excellent movie, a true adaptation of the book, nothing more and nothing less. It is an unflinching look at the sickening excesses of a consumption based culture of America during the early 1970's, who's vacuous heart resides in Las Vegas, a symbol of greed and debauchery. The pointlessness of the movie is a metaphor for the pointless pursuit of personal gratification and greed, the true heart of the "American Dream".

If you put aside the usual assumptions about a movie, i.e. that you are supposed to care about the characters, that their needs to conflict and resolution etc, then you will enjoy it much better. This movie is a magical ride and actually works on many levels, not only as testimony to the horrors of excessive drug use, and the tacky, ugly view of the worst parts of America, but also to the failed 60's generation, a generation that thought that "somebody somewhere is guarding the light at the end of the tunnel". Drug use is simply a way of escaping your present reality, and all the drugged out zeroes of the sixties were truly lost if they thought that enlightenment and peace could come from a hit of acid. This movie takes Timothy Leary's supposition of "freeing your mind" to it's ultimate conclusion and the conclusion is that you are not actually freeing your mind, but destroying it.

Of course this movie is also fun to watch the incredible performances by Johnny Depp and Benitio Del Torro, both of whom I barely even recognized in their roles (Depp with a shaven head and the bloated Del Torro who gained 40 pounds for his portrayal of "Dr. Gonzo"). Del Torro has one scene in particular (the bathtub scene) which is both disgusting and very disturbing. Apparently his performance was so convincing that he had a hard time getting work after this film because everyone was convinced that he was wasted on the set. The truth is that he's just a damn fine actor who didn't hold back for one second, which is exactly what the film called for. Also the scene of Johnny Depp squealing like a banshee after imbibing some adrenocrome and Del Torro freaking out behind him is unforgettable.

The directing itself is fast paced with offseting angles a lot of wide angle lenses. Gilliam has a style which is unmistakable, it's like walking around inside of a Dali painting, everything is distorted and stretched to create a strong sense of surrealism. Yet his approach is much less offensive than Oliver Stone, who desperately throws every single filming trick at you repeatedly until you are pummeled into submission. Wow, look he switch to 8 mm, then black and white, now it's slow mo all in 3 seconds!

Anyway, I digress. This is a fine movie, don't watch it stoned, you'll get more out of it, repeated viewings are recommended. I also recommend getting the criterion DVD version, which has commentary by Gilliam, Depp, del Torro and Hunter S. Thompson himself!

An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas, with a car full of drugs, alcohol and the pursuit of the American Dream.

A psychedelic trip into the macabre, a chaotic spiral into madness. These terms perfectly describe Hunter S. Thompson's novel describing his drug fueled trip of the west. Depp does a perfect rendition of Thompson and truly is a marvel to watch in this film. In his rendition it is easy to see how Depp has become one of this generations finest actors. This film for the casual viewer may be difficult to follow and or watch, but to me personally is a fantastic film one in which does what it was intended to do, and that is to entertain and to darkly and at times humorously take the viewer on a chaotic ride. With a huge cult following and an eventual prequel that came out; Rum Diaries, this is a wonderful peek into the world of the not so normal and the drug fueled ride that is Hunter S. Thompson's life. The soundtrack is perfect for this film as it follows suit with the chaos that is viewed on the screen. I highly recommend this film to film buffs and lovers of dark comedies.

Where to even start with this? What starts as a fun drug-fueled comedy slowly turns into a claustrophobic nightmare of grotesque imagery and sensory overload. I've never done any hallucinogetic drugs, but I imagine that after a while, the rush Would become a nightmare. This is an ugly movie. It's hard to watch. It's extremely uncfomfortable. And that's the point.

Terry Gilliam said in his own words: "I want it to be seen as one of the great movies of all time, and one of the most hated movies of all time." Judging by the critics' reactions, he succeded. The film has an almost perfectly split 50 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and many critics, including Roger Ebert, were completely appalled by it, and honestly, it's not hard to see why.

But the movie survived. It has stood the test of time. It has risen from the ashes to become stronger than ever before. It is a paradox. A joyful nightmare. A horrifying treat. This film was too weird to live, yet too rare too die.

I have read countless reviews of this movie that have derided it for everything from glorifying drugs to being unchristian to being boring. Maybe my mind works very much like director Terry Gilliam's (I loved 'Brazil' and '12 Monkeys'), but the last thing I would do to this movie is deride it. It is a brilliant adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's generation-defining book of the same name - it stays very faithful to the events in the book.

First of all, this movie literally glows with Gilliam's eye for detail that he has consistently displayed throughout his career. The sets are so elaborate, one could never take in all the scenery from any number of viewings without slowing it down and watching very closely. The bombardment of the bright, flashing lights of Las Vegas and the bizarre camera angles, as well as surreal sets make for an interesting and entertaining presentation regardless of a lack of coherency and taste. What we have here is a movie riddled with black humor and a horrifying satire of the American dream. I'll admit it takes a very `unchristian' viewpoint to laugh at the `straight economics' of allowing policemen to gang-f**k a girl for $30 a head. Therefore, people bound by a constricting sense of morality should never have watched this movie in the first place. It is for people like me who enjoy living a very un-stoic life (at least vicariously through movies) by having radical ideas and perspectives forced upon them. Fear and Loathing is the embodiment of such a perspective - it is a gruesomely accurate depiction of the bi-product of the often-glorified 60's drug culture. And one thing that countless critics seem to carelessly omit in their analyses is the constant references to the `American Dream.' Johnny Depp (Raoul Duke/Hunter Thompson), in his verbose verbal narrations, makes quite a few references to a desparate hunt for reason behind the madness of not only this `American Dream', but the drug culture as well - "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." - Dr. Johnson (displayed before the opening scene). The problem with the waning popularity of this movie is simply that its design was not meant to appeal to the buttoned-down mainstream. People that want to laugh and cry in a movie theater and then get the hell on aren't the type of people that would enjoy seeing an unjustified drug-induced frenzy on Las Vegas. This movie has everything a critic should be looking for in a masterpiece - magnificent cinematography, lovely acting, shock value, provocation of thought, and a meaning behind it all. To freaks like me it also has immense entertainment value as well. This work will be one of my favorite movies of all time.