When I Die (2005) User Reviews

Not what I expected, or hoped for really.

[cmomo · 7/10 · 19 January 2006]

This documentary featuring the good Dr.Thompson is the third to come from renowned film maker Wayne Ewing. His second HST related outing was entitled "Breakfast With Hunter" and was far more interesting and informative, with much more footage of Dr Thompson himself than "When I Die". "When I Die" focuses on the extravagant arrangements surrounding Hunters funeral, from the 153-foot-high sculpture of the Gonzo "fist" logo, to the aircraft friendly pyrotechnics that blast Hunters Ashes over the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately there is very little footage of Hunter himself, or any of his other famous pals in attendance(Jack Nicholson was a close friend and Johnny Depp being the one footing the reputed 2-3 million dollar bill for the event). The soundtrack is first class however, and features the best of Warren Zevon, Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Norman Greenbaum. Despite its shortcomings this is well worth the watch for any Hunter/Gonzo fans. What stands out are the end credits, its just a shame there weren't more poignant moments like the credits.

Couldn't have been more bored...

[maxgreis · 1/10 · 1 August 2006]

I was expecting to get a documentary about Hunter Thompson, his funeral, and his ashes getting blasted out of a canon. Instead i was stuck with a bunch of people i don't care about (johnny depp's hired help) planning a monument that we barely get to see in it's finished form. The hour long movie starts out with about three minutes of old footage of Hunter, expressing his wish to have his ashes blasted out of a gonzo canon. This three minutes of footage (taken from a 1978 BBC doc) was far and away the best part of the movie, but that entire documentary is included on the Criterion edition DVD of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, so i'd seen it already. The rest of the movie drags through a boring process of planning and building, with a bunch of uninteresting people, and almost no insight or info on the man who people bought the DVD for - Hunter S Thompson. I didn't buy a DVD to learn about a bunch of people who Hunter didn't even know, creating a monument that we barely get to see. There's also no footage of the actual funeral, i know they wanted to keep it private but there must have been something they could have shown. The big pay-off was supposed to be the footage of his ashes getting blasted and fireworks going off, but it happened at night and you could barely see the ashes at all. Overall it was very anti-climatic and disappointing, just like the entire movie. There is a couple minutes of footage of the completed gonzo monument at the very end of the movie, and it was pretty cool. But a couple minutes of good footage at the beginning and end don't make up for utter boredom for an hour (98% of the movie). The thing that really annoys me is that the movie basically exploits Hunter's name in order to sell copies, but the movie has almost nothing to do with Hunter.

Although this movie is terrible, there is another documentary about Hunter by the same director which is actually quite good. It is called "Breakfast with Hunter", and basically follows Hunter around over the period of a few years in the 90s. That movie is terrific and a must for any Hunter fan, which i certainly can't say about "When i Die".