Of course, Fear and Loathing is a bit more grounded than those, what with their propensity for images like a frog waltzing on top of an armless opera singer who gargles “God Save The Queen,” or whatever, but there is definitely some uniquely wild stuff thrown around during Duke’s binges. Gilliam conjures up some truly weird images over the course of the film, dancing from mood to mood and scene to scene like a more coherent version of one of his early Python cartoons.
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998) MOVIE
I know calling a movie dreamlike is a bit of a cop-out, but Fear and Loathing does feel like one. It goes on for a while like that, really, some of it funny, some of it scary and before you know it, it’s over.
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998) FULL
Hopped up on a briefcase full of pep pills, cocaine, ether, mescaline, weed and LSD, Duke and Gonzo trip their way through casinos, convention centers and trashed hotel rooms, causing trouble and spooking the straights until the heat gets to be too much and they hightail it back to L.A. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), on assignment to cover a sand-swept buggy race that the two have absolutely no intention to cover. I have never even heard of some of this stuff just what the hell is adrenochrome?įear and Loathing picks up with Thompson surrogate Raoul Duke (Depp) hightailing it through the Nevada desert with his tubby, psychotic lawyer friend Dr.
Yet, here we are, face to face with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, while enjoying a significantly milder cocktail of chemicals than anything they take in this movie. I just never cared enough about the subject matter and goofball Johnny Depp to take the dive. I like Terry Gilliam movies well enough, except Time Bandits - scary, horrifying Time Bandits - so his trippy trip down psychedelic lane always did sound like a bit of fun. With those two factors in mind, I have never been eager to hop on the Fear and Loathing bandwagon. I enjoy sitting on my couch all day, and this lifestyle of loading up your head with a weird cocktail of chemicals and then rowing around the floor in an invisible boat seems to require an amount of energy that’s beyond me. I also don’t really dig on hallucinogens either, I didn’t even like googling the word to see if I spelled it right ( It came up with this picture, and I can’t get behind that). I like that they shot his ashes out of a cannon after he died, that’s a way to go out, but as far as sitting down and reading a book of his stuff, I’d rather just play Mortal Kombat until I can’t feel my hands anymore. Thompson - I know that it’s sort of a faux pas not to be into the dude, what with him being cool and cranky and all, but it’s just not my scene.
420 Midnight: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)įriday, April 19 & Saturday April, 20 Midnight | Tickets