ivanpaitre
Gonzo Journalism and the way it can take a person along the journey is unique. Minted in this edition of the book by Mr Hunter S Thompson its a first for this genre and in my opinion, is one of the best revealing style of story creation.Love this beginning in Mr Depps' Acting.This movie is one of my all-time classics
Smoreni Zmaj
I tried to watch this movie several times since it was released and I had to give up on it every time till now. It took me almost 20 years to force my self to see it to the end. I love both Depp and Benicio, and I saw almost every movie they made, but this one I simply hate. This is one of the most boring pieces of crap I have ever seen in my life.If there was anyone else in leading roles but those two I would rate it 0/10, but because of those two geniuses I have to rate it 4/10.
quinimdb
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was a movie that worked with the specific group of people that ended up making it, and probably couldn't have worked had they not been involved. Terry Gilliam's particular insane and surreal style worked incredibly well with this film, utilizing incredible vibrant lighting and psychedelic visual effects achieved digitally and practically, as well as almost constant Dutch angles and low angles and close ups and frantic movement, creating a constant sense of disorientation and really putting us into the mind of the drug addled Hunter S. Thompson, a journalist supposedly on a business trip. The film is visually amazing on every level. Johnny Depp is fantastic as that character, reportedly spending lots of time with him in order to get down all his mannerisms and the right vocal inflection, and delivering the best performance of his career because of it. Benicio Del Toro is fantastic as his "attorney", and even Tobey Maguire is even great in a small role of a terrified and naive hitchhiker. It also has probably one of the best soundtracks of the 90s, with each song fitting perfectly to its scene.But the film's exploration of America in the early 70s, and how this contrasts with the zeitgeist of the 60s, is part of what gives this depraved film nuance. The film opens with a montage of those protesting horrible injustices in the world, and a quote that I think sums up the two main characters pretty well: "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Hunter S. Thompson, named Raoul Duke in this film, and his "attorney" Dr. Gonzo both dive headfirst into such unbelievable amounts of excess that everything becomes skewed and distorted beyond recognition. Most take drugs to get high, but for them it is mostly confusion, fear, and loathing. But their twisted view of the world is an escape from the harsh and oppressive reality of the world they live in. There is a great moment near the middle of the film in which Raoul emerges from the haze of his drug trip and has a moment in which he reflects upon the state of his existence at that moment. He mentions how the 60s were a time that everyone felt they were all in it together, standing up against the oppressive forces of the world and whatever they were doing, they were doing it right. The drugs they took at that time were a symbol of the peek that they had reached, bringing them together and symbolizing peace, while the drugs that they were taking now only gave them negative consequences. They had fallen from the grace of the 60s and were only now beginning to realize the falseness of the American dream, no matter how hard they striped for it. What they find out about the American dream is essentially that most will never stop searching for it, even if it died long ago. Through drugs and the rest of their escapades, they were desperately trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel that they had believed in so strongly during the 60s, but as we see, nothings really changed. The elite classes are shown as reptiles (literally) and hypocrites, distracting themselves from injustices in their expensive clubs, and pretending to be above marijuana smokers while smoking cigarettes. Ultimately what Raoul is doing with drugs is the same as what the average American man is doing in a casino, and what most of us are constantly doing: we're betting on the American dream, and losing just a little bit more each time. The characters begin in a downward spiral that may seem repetitive, but is also strangely honest.While the film can be disturbing, poignant, ironic, and disorienting, it can also be incredibly hilarious. The sense of humor is another thing that keeps the film afloat. It allows us to view the scrambled events and inappropriate behavior and desperation, and laugh at the absurdity of it all. The editing of the film makes the chronology of events and hallucination and memory hazy and borderline incoherent at times, but that's what is so amazing about this film. There was so much that could've ruined it, yet everything worked so harmoniously for this specific vision to create such an original, revealing, and distinctive vision of America.
Mike Guratza
Although widely considered a cult classic, this movie is almost unwatchable for the average viewer. The depiction of the LSD experience and general visual approach of Terry Gilliam is interesting as always, but that's hardly enough to support an entire movie. Even the slightest sign of a plot would have helped enormously, but the film is just a stitching of scenes comprising of... pretty much nothing at all. The movie's subsequent cult success is probably due to the fact that people with drug experiences can identify with certain events of the movie, but definitely, experiencing an acid trip yourself must be much more enjoyable than living it through the eyes of a bald Johnny Depp.
