Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Depp's Thompson lives and breathes in Gilliam's outrageous, drug-fueled masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best American Movie of the Year + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year  + Best Las Vegas Movie of the Year + Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Benicio Del Toro 

A photo of Johnny Depp from the movie manipulated to a spaced-out state and adding some Ralph Steadman-style bats adorn this poster for Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Odd journalist Raoul Duke and his psychopathic Samoan lawyer Dr. Gonzo travel to Las Vegas in their Corvette convertible, 'The Red Shark' to indulge in drugs, search out the American Dream and report on life as it takes place in the gambling capital of the world.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's (The Curse of Lono (1983)) semi-autobiographical 1971 novel of the same name, written by Tony Grisoni (Tideland (2005)) and Minnesotan master co-writer-director Terry Gilliam (The Fisher King (1991)). It is arguably Gilliam's best film of all, competing with surreal sci-fi masterpiece Brazil (1985) for the title. It is a completely mad, loyal and credible rendition of the outrageous journey and exploits that are the center of Thompson's enduring classic.

The small-America consumer's artificial oasis that is Las Vegas is brought to life with psychedelic colors and rawness which, - together with the film's anarchic pace, - is simply terrific. Nicola Pecorini (Rules of Engagement (2000)) handled the cinematography, and Lesley Walker (Mamma Mia! (2008)) edited the film.

The effects - a mix of photographic and practical - are ingenious and fun; the ether trip is especially wild and memorable, - and the extravagant soundtrack is the epitome of showbiz, following the creed that too much of everything is never enough.

Johnny Depp (Sleepy Hollow (1999)) and Benicio Del Toro (Drug Wars: The Camerena Story (1990), miniseries) are eminent as the cooky, high, paranoid junkies in God's own country, and the film has several luminous supporting character performances: Michael Jeter (The Naked Man (1998)) as a speaker on the hash milieu, for one, is super.

In Thompson's gonzo world, which is the one Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas inhabits, drugs are a necessary medicine, when your aim is to roam the crazy, phony, feared, repulsive, glittering, apocalyptic super power of this world that is America.

Related posts:

Terry Gilliam: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Brothers Grimm (2005) - Gilliam's European misadventure sort-of entertains 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

12 Monkeys (1995) or, What's the Time?

Watch a 2-minute scene with Johnny Depp from the movie here

Cost: 18.5 mil. $

Box office: 13.7 mil. $

= Huge flop

[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas premiered 15 May (Cannes Film Festival, in main competition) and runs 118 minutes. Several people had wanted to make the film for years: Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, John Malkovich and John Cusack had been in talks, before Gilliam came to front the adaptation, which Thompson pushed to get made with Depp playing his eponymous Duke character. Depp and Gilliam each received 0.5 mil. $ for doing the film. Del Toro gained more than 45 pounds (18 kg) for his performance, and Depp moved into Thompson's basement to research and live for 4 months. He was shaved by Thompson and given several props to use from the writer's life and the specific period of the novel. A WGA crediting issue regarding crediting the writers of a former version of the screenplay instead of Grisoni/Gilliam made Gilliam protest and burn his WGA on Broadway. Gilliam described shooting the film as "all sorts of chaos". The 56 day shoot ran from August - October 1997 and took place in California, Arizona and Nevada, including in Las Vegas. The film was devised to resemble a drug trip from beginning to end, with Pecorini and Gilliam working out the cinematic qualities of the various individual drugs taken. Rolling Stone's Sympathy for the Devil had to be left out, though central in the novel, because its licensing fee, at 300k $, was simply too high for the film's budget. At the premiere, Thompson saw the film and jumped around in his seat and yelled out throughout the film, admitting afterwards that he "appreciated it." The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Godzilla and hold-over hit Deep Impact, to a 3.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 the next week, ran for just 3 weeks and made 10.6 mil. $ (77.4 % of the total gross). Thompson's novel saw huge new interest upon the film's release and was reprinted six times. The film polarized critics, and Roger Ebert gave it a ridiculous 1/4 star review. It has since gained cult status. Bill Murray had played Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) and advised Depp to "make sure your next role is a drastically different guy". Depp returned with The Vicar of Dipley (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate (1999). Gilliam's career was derailed from the massive financial disaster of the film and didn't rebound until The Brothers Grimm (2005). Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is rotten at 49 % with a 5.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?