Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Reviews (original) (raw)

Summary When a writing assignment lands journalist Raoul Duke (Depp) and sidekick DR. Gonzo (Del Toro) in Las Vegas, they decide to make it the ultimate business trip. But before long, business is forgotten and trip has become the key word. Fueled by a suitcase full of mind-bending pharmaceuticals, Duke and Gonzo set off on a fast and furious ri...

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Does for psychedelics what "Boogie Nights" does for cocaine; displaying in graphical detail the ultimate failure of drugs as an escape route.

Gilliam captures the chaotic visions of debauchery with his trademark aplomb, bringing to life the already trippy patterns of hotel carpets and populating the dark bars of Vegas with genuinely reptilian lounge lizards.

Exceptional adaptation of the screen of Hunter S. Thompson's masterpiece autobiographic novel. This movie is nothing less than a work of art, and in my opinion is Johnny Depp's best film, no questions asked. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Best movie ever. Masterpiece! i watched this movie a couple of times and it never gets old. Just love this movie.

There's something about that extra layer of distancing that a book can offer and the screen can't, which in this case might account for why film viewers feel vaguely discomforted by an icky fifth-wheel sensation.

There is a reason why books are books and movies are movies, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas makes a pretty good case that the two don't always mix.

The movie is a true folly, yet there's no denying that Gilliam has gotten some of the hallucinogenic madness of Thompson's novel on screen.

Johnny Depp's impersonation of the Thompson figure is effective up to a point, but it's hard to imagine any segment of the public embracing this off-putting, unrewarding slog through the depths of the drug culture.

One long offensive treatise on just how vile two human beings can be.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I admit, I almost turned this one off early on into the film, but I am glad I made it all the way through. The directing really makes you feel as if you are under the influence and really puts you into the mindset of Duke (Johnny Depp's character). As for the acting, it was quite good as well and Depp really played the role of the constantly under the influence writer very well. Only gripes were the utter lack of character development, which certainly hurts. The seemingly all over the place plot would normally be a gripe of mine as well, but in a film like this, it certainly makes a ton of sense.

As in typical Terry Gilliam fashion, "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" is rife with provocative imagery and creative camera work, but with that you also end up running into the trade-off of a typical Gilliam work -- if you're a more mainstream-minded moviegoer with easygoing sensibilities, you're going to feel a bit alienated by all of the weirdness. That's not to say this is unwatchable. In fact, it's far from it. As each -- admittedly episodic -- scene goes by, you as an audience member feel as though there's always some sort of concerted effort being placed into doing something new; some different kind of framing, movement, color palette, or effect that'll make things interesting. There's at least that. Beyond this, though, it seems the film represents more of a treat for those who are fans of the novel and the larger-than-life man behind it, rather than plain ol' vanilla-loving normies like me. But that's not to say it wasn't at least worth a look.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a total mess. During the 95% of the movie, it uses all the most obvious ways to show hallucinations, trying to hide the lack of ideas and good screenplay. This is the worst Terry Gilliam's production - pointless, disgusting and incredibly stupid. And even Benicio del Toro is not able to help it.

I was tortured to keep watching this movie, I couldn't remember that I watched worse than this film, please tell me what is the story of the movie?! Just two guys taking drugs and getting high from beginning until the end of the movie, 2 hours just to watch the effect of drugs on these guys!!! I think all the cast got high before shooting the film. If you want to watch this film, just be sure to take nausea pills before you start it.

Production Company Fear and Loathing LLC, Rhino Films, Shark Productions, Summit Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Release Date May 22, 1998

Duration 1 h 58 m

Rating TV-14

Tagline Give us your brain for two hours and you will never be the same again.....(Icelandic)

The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards

Russian Guild of Film Critics

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination