Monday, July 16, 2007

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Fear and Loathing was a well and truly wacked out film. Basically, it's just one long drug trip, with incredible special effects so the movie viewer can share in the hallucinations. Although it might be fun to start with, you soon get tired of watching these two guys swallow and sniff every substance under the sun. Hunter S. Thompson wrote the famous book of the title. The main character, journalist Raoul Duke is played by Johnny Depp. His sidekick is a big Samoan lawyer, Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro). They're travelling to Las Vegas in an open top Cadillac to write a story about an off road car race. The movie outlines their incredible drug intake, trashing hotel rooms (like you've never seen before!), and bumping into some strange characters played by cameos such as Ellen Barkin and Gary Busey. The special effects include people turning into animals, carpets coming alive and bats attacking their open top car. How these guys ever took all this stuff and survived is beyond me (it is based on a true story). I don't really have much more to say about this movie. It does produce a good laugh here and there, but there is really little else to hold your interest in this tiresome drug crazed flick. I think my friend Steve actually dozed off a couple of times.
The Movie Nut's Rating - 2.5 Out Of 10
(originally posted on movies-australia.com at some point in 1998!)
IMDB Link

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