This is not an easy film to watch. There's no doubt that Depp and Del Toro give performances that any other actor would die to deliver and that Gilliams brilliant visions of weirdness complement the story. The script is also peppered with wonderful lines and there are some scenes which may cause you to break a rib from laughing. But it's still hard to watch and your enjoyment of the film may suffer as a result.
I can see why some users have given such negative reviews. For some people there is simply no fun in watching two men stumbling around Las Vegas getting stoned out of their minds and having to suffer the consequences the next day. That we have to go through this ritual three or four times throughout the film would be okay if there was a central plot to anchor the nights before and the mornings after. There isn't. It starts off with the premise that Depp and Del Toro are in Las Vegas to cover an off road race. This is thrown out of the window in half-an-hour and replaced with drugs, booze, cigarettes and convertibles in varying proportions. All we are left with is a trip into these two guys frazzled, acid-clogged minds and the experiences that go with them.
But this is what the film is all about. This film is an experience. It's an idea. A view of life in the drug lane. It's about taking us with them for the ride while they get high and drop down again. The opening 15 minutes sum this up perfectly. As Depp is dodging drug-induced bats (the hallucination scenes are uniformally brilliant) and Del Toro is mumbling away to himself they pick up a hitch-hiker. Imagine yourself in the hikers position before he finally runs for cover. That's us in this film. We get to do this for the next two hours. Hang out with the guys and feel what they feel. And all the time Hunter S. Thompson's (who wrote the book the film is based on) prose is sneered at us by Depp. The film is really all about Thompson in the end and the effects of the drug-riddled 70's on the world today.
It's a brave film these days that tries to hang its whole running time on one mans ideas but this film does it and, in my opinion, succeeds. I didn't like Trainspotting, which did basically the same thing, because of the depressing tone that went with it. Fear and Loathing has a jauntier, more flamboyant style (courtesy of Gilliam) that I can stomach much easier. I enjoyed it and I think the entire audience I saw it with loved it too. If you want to watch the bumblings of two junkies then check it out. If you don't want to then don't watch it. It's up to you.
I can see why some users have given such negative reviews. For some people there is simply no fun in watching two men stumbling around Las Vegas getting stoned out of their minds and having to suffer the consequences the next day. That we have to go through this ritual three or four times throughout the film would be okay if there was a central plot to anchor the nights before and the mornings after. There isn't. It starts off with the premise that Depp and Del Toro are in Las Vegas to cover an off road race. This is thrown out of the window in half-an-hour and replaced with drugs, booze, cigarettes and convertibles in varying proportions. All we are left with is a trip into these two guys frazzled, acid-clogged minds and the experiences that go with them.
But this is what the film is all about. This film is an experience. It's an idea. A view of life in the drug lane. It's about taking us with them for the ride while they get high and drop down again. The opening 15 minutes sum this up perfectly. As Depp is dodging drug-induced bats (the hallucination scenes are uniformally brilliant) and Del Toro is mumbling away to himself they pick up a hitch-hiker. Imagine yourself in the hikers position before he finally runs for cover. That's us in this film. We get to do this for the next two hours. Hang out with the guys and feel what they feel. And all the time Hunter S. Thompson's (who wrote the book the film is based on) prose is sneered at us by Depp. The film is really all about Thompson in the end and the effects of the drug-riddled 70's on the world today.
It's a brave film these days that tries to hang its whole running time on one mans ideas but this film does it and, in my opinion, succeeds. I didn't like Trainspotting, which did basically the same thing, because of the depressing tone that went with it. Fear and Loathing has a jauntier, more flamboyant style (courtesy of Gilliam) that I can stomach much easier. I enjoyed it and I think the entire audience I saw it with loved it too. If you want to watch the bumblings of two junkies then check it out. If you don't want to then don't watch it. It's up to you.