Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (DVD)

*Both the film in question & this review may contain references to drug uses that some readers may wish to shield their precious eyes from (because they might find them offensive, and not because the bats may hit you in the face!) "No point in mentioning these bats, I thought. Poor bastard will see them soon enough." Based on Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 two part series, "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas; A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream", which later, that same year was published as a book - the film is pretty true to the book, so here goes… Fear & Loathing follows gonzo* journalist Raoul ...  Read the complete review

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas directed by Terry Gilliam and based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. We follow the misadventures of the perpetually intoxicated Raul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his equally-intoxicated attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio del Toro) during their stay in (you guessed it) Las Vegas. While watching this I felt torn in two parts, one liked it, one didn't. The first felt deeply uncomfortable with the drug abuse masquerading as some sort of everyday pick-me-up when in reality they can totally f*ck up your life, and I speak as someone who has been unfortunate enough to witness that first hand. In one scene after a man in a suit walks in on him ...  Read the complete review

As my nickname suggests, this film had a big effect on me. It was so refreshing to see the effects of drugs on professional, intellectuals rather than the usual junkie depictions seen in the movies. Terry Gilliam's vision of how to turn Hunter S.Thompson's book into a film couldn't have been done better. Gilliam was the perfect choice. The acid scene in the hotel near the beginning of the film is perhaps one of the most stunning visuals of the 90s. Johnny Depp is to be commended on his brilliant portrail of Raoul Duke. In all of his films since Fear and Loathing and in interviews you can see that the role had a big effect on his life and the way ...  Read the complete review

Surrealist films were virtually unknown until the nineties, as film-makers usually stuck to action, comedy, and romance. The recent bizarre film releases have usually been so due to the books they have been based on. Fight Club, for instance was based on Chuck Palanhiuk’s fantastic novel by the same name, and the screen version is nowhere near as confusing or surreal as the book. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was also based on a novel, and is one of the strangest and bowl prolapsingly hilarious films I’ve ever seen. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is technically a road movie and as Easy Rider demonstrated before it, road movies are doped up to the ...  Read the complete review

The question was: what would my favourite director make of my favourite author's most famous book? Gilliam had the credentials - from his insane Monty Python animations, through the neo-nostalgic dystopia of Brazil, the calamitous, unruly genius of Baron Munchaussen...who else had the visual flair to translate Thompson's novel to the screen? (A version by Peter Greenaway would have been interesting...) What plot there is concerns Gonzo journalist Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) on a drug-guzzling mission to Vegas in order to report on the Mint 500, a desert bike race. He takes his criminally insane attorney (Benicio Del Toro) along for the ride, and, on ...  Read the complete review