Fear and Loathing

Welcome to Bat Country folks.  This movie is one hell of a trip both in its pursuit if the American Dream and the presence of some of the strongest narcotics one can buy.  Based on Hunter S Thompson's stupendous novel, Fear and Loathing shows everyone the faults in chasing the American Dream.  I don't condone the use of narcotics but for Hunter S Thompson they seemed to have worked (it has been pointed out to me that I unintentionally quoted Hunter himself here).  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the world's most interesting journalist and attorney movie, and this may be contributed to the amount of drugs our protagonist is on or that it is the only one.

Johnny Depp, a friend of the author, portrays Raoul Duke in the film and does a fantastic job doing so. Benicio Del Toro plays Dr. Gonzo, the attorney of Raoul.  Hunter also makes a small cameo as a future version of Raoul, this cameo is so short yet satisfying for anyone who is a fan of Hunter's.

Movies which are based off books is not a new concept and usually it's possible to watch a movie without having ever read the book.  I do not suggest this for Fear and Loathing, and not just because Hunter S Thompson is a brilliant writer, but the book helps put the movie in better perspective.  I originally watched the movie without any inclination as to what the story was about and having never read the book.  I have since read the novel and have a better understanding of what it is I was watching.  Granted my original assumption of the movie just being about bad acid trip was not far off.

Having said all of this I want to address the movie itself.  As I've said, if you haven't read the book this movie may be a little hard to understand.  There are scenes seen entirely in the perspective of our protagonist who is, for lack of better terms, "tripping balls."  These scenes while quite comical, really make no sense.  The narrations do help us follow the story yet they are the rants of a highly "medicated" Raoul.

The whole plot is based off our protagonist writing a story which I don't think he actually accomplishes based off the sheer amount of drugs and lack of doing any work.  The movie should be classified as "character-driven" if anything and yet we see no character go through a "change."

Despite having no idea what the fuck I am watching half the time, I love this movie.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is unlike any movie I have ever seen before.  Perhaps it is due to the phenomenal acting done by both Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro.  Perhaps it's due to the extremely amazing tripping scenes.  The way Raoul's perspective is captured, the special effects of the lizard bar, and the use of projections to show war on the hotel walls, both were amazing scenes that I haven't seen any other movie come close to.

This movie has the benefits of feeling the effects of drugs while still allowing you to pass a drug test in the morning and after all isn't that what we all want?         No?  Okay scratch that.

(SIDE NOTE: I feel the need in this blog to confirm myself as a "reader".  The order in which I read/watch the book/movie is not always the same.  Sometimes I'll see a movie just because I love the book and sometimes it is the complete opposite as is the case with Fear and Loathing.  Most of the time if I have not read the book already I will read it based off whether I enjoyed the movie or not but keep in mind that it is not always best to judge a book by its movie as my high school self learned from failing so many reading checks.)