Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Review by Laurence Mixson (venom8@hotmail.com)
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* out of ****
Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, written in 1971, is already an American classic; not merely because it was an unadulterated journey through the post-psychedelia of the 1960's, but also because it ushered in a new form of journalism known as "gonzo". Soon after the book was written, Hunter S. Thomspon became the basis for a character in Doonesbury known as Uncle Duke.
And that is the problem with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas(the movie.) Although the book is one of my favorites, I now agree with Thompson's own assessment of the novel as "unfilmable."
The main problem is that the book, although detailing wild drug use and tripped-out adventures, was not written on the road. It was written and edited by Hunter S. Thomspons, relatively sober, at his home. So although the book depicts drug use and still more drug use, it is told with a sense of aloofness and some humor. Hunter S. Thomspon, the narrator, while always drugged out, still has a grip on reality, and can still tell, with journalistic ability, what is going on around him.
Not so with the characters in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Despite name changes and one minor scene from the book dropped, the movie is an exact duplicate of the book, in terms of dialouge. Unfortunately, this can get annoying, in the form of Johnny Depp's(who plays Thompson)excessive narration. And the characters, while having vivid personalities, are played as 2-D characers on the screen: Dr. Raoul Duke(Johnny Depp, the name Raoul Duke was an alias of Thompson's) and his riding companion, Dr. Gonzo(Benicio Del Toro), who is a large Samoan lawyer, have no personalities or emotions at all, save for stoned.
The film is very faithful to the plot(what there is) of the book, in that Dr. Raoul Duke is sent by Sports Illustrated to cover the Mint 400, and takes along not only his Samoan lawyer but also car trunk full of drugs. From there, one set of stoned adventures after another happens, including one of the few good scenes in which Depp, high on acid, watches all the people in the bar around him turn into, literally, lounge lizards.
While the movie has its moments(few), it is almost unwatchable at parts, especially towards the end. Despite a lot of celebrity cameos, the stars never get off the ground. The set decoration and costumes are great, and probably deserve an oscar nomination. However, as we all know, it's not sets or effects that make a movie, its the characters; and quite frankly, these characters are no good.
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