3 Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam, 1998)
What they said:
“A horrible mess of a movie, without shape, trajectory or purpose–a one joke movie, if it had one joke. The two characters wander witlessly past the bizarre backdrops of Las Vegas (some real, some hallucinated, all interchangeable) while zonked out of their minds.”
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
What we say:
Well, it’s clearly wonderful and deserved to be a massive hit – gleefully nailing the pace and life-seizing posturing of Hunter S. Thompson’s deranged, insight-packed prose with snappy dialogue and leering camera angles.
Johnny Depp is note-perfect as the author himself – goofy and self-destructive but also rueful and poetic – and the soundtrack is driving, melancholy and balls-out fiendish.
Even to an outsider who’s never heard of the book, the peace movement or even Las Vegas, there’s a frantic irreverence and energy that renders Gilliam’s queasy slapstick pacy and poignant. Get the incredible Criterion Edition. Go on…
