hunter s thompson fear and loathing movie

I suppose sometimes things are just better left to be read than visually seen, as the story and characters are far funnier on the written page than they are in the movie. The disappointing thing about it is that I actually found the novel itself to be rather amusing. The movie tries to present itself as a comedy, but apart from an unexpected grapefruit to the head, I don’t think I ever laughed. It’s an exhausting and tiresome experience just to watch, and I found it to be far more sad than funny. They refuse to get off their high and eagerly go from one drug to the next. It feels like there’s never a moment in the film when these two junkies aren’t busy taking some sort of drug. From hotel room antics, to major drug binges, and even kidnapping, Raoul and Gonzo stir up a whirlwind of trouble but somehow they miraculously continue to evade the consequences through ingenuity and sheer luck. The film follows Raoul and Gonzo on their wacky, drugged-out adventure through Las Vegas, and their exploits become more sadistic and haunting as time goes on. What ultimately ensues, however, is an excursion of increasingly excessive drug use and debauchery. Gonzo, where Thompson was reporting on an annual off-road racing event known as the Mint 400. It’s an exaggerated tale of their exploits in Vegas, written under the character names of Raoul Duke and Dr. Thompson that was inspired by his trip to Las Vegas in the early 1970s with his good friend and attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta.

That makes it all the more surprising how much I disliked the film, considering it actually seems like an admirably faithful adaptation.įear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a film based on the novel written by famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. I actually read a good portion of the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a few years ago and I was really enjoying it until loads of schoolwork got in the way.

It looked like a truly unique experience, and in truth it is one, though it’s not exactly pretty. What made Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas different and appealing to me was its silliness and its impressive visual and artistic style. Those kind of movies just don’t interest me. I’ve never seen more than a couple minutes of Half Baked, or Pineapple Express, or Cheech and Chong, or the like. Being the straight-laced, drug-free guy that I am, I feel like it’s hard for me to give a proper assessment of this movie, but I’ll give it my best shot.įirst and foremost, I should state that I don’t typically watch these type of stoner movies. Whatever the case may be, this clearly is not a movie for me. Now that I’ve actually seen it, I feel like I might never be old enough for this film. I was far too young to watch it when it first came out, but of course that didn’t make it any less intriguing to me.

Something about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has always piqued my interest.

Hunter s thompson fear and loathing movie