Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (The Criterion Collection)
by Terry Gilliam
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Actor: Benicio Del Toro, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey, Johnny Depp, Tobey MaguireDirector: Terry Gilliam
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: Terry Gilliam
Producer: Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt
Producer: Harold Bronson
Writer: Alex Cox
Writer: Hunter S. Thompson
Writer: Tod Davies
Writer: Tony Grisoni
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-02-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Criterion
DVD Reviews of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (The Criterion Collection)
DVD Review: Galvanizing adaptation of the seminal gonzo classic
Summary: 5 Stars
That "Fear & Loathing..." the film is more frequently panned than praised says more for it's galvanizing attitudes than for the quality of the work. A collection of two articles written about the death of the American Dream (NOT the assignments he was given, natch), the book "Fear and Loathing..." imploded the myth of middle class grandeur while, on the surface, offering no alternative other than constant drug addled frenzy; it was and still is easy for the puritanical mindset to see this more as a rationalizing of the drug culture than a dissection of American bourgeois mentality. But that's their loss really... What Hunter S Thompson is really trying to say goes beyond even the oft-repeated mantra that taking drugs is a REACTION to the BS state of 60s politics and society rather than an end in and of itself; he treats the omnivorous consumption of narcotics as a perfectly valid base on which to found his mordant observations on the American Way, unapologetically choosing to toke first and ask questions later. And based on the scathing accuracy of his observations, who's to say he was wrong?
"Fear and Loathing..." wasn't the first of Thompson's works to treat the underpinnings of middle-class schizophrenia as the psychic equivalent to a bad acid trip, but it was certainly his most lucid, the cornerstone of his ethos even if he would write more insightfully and coherently both before and afterwards. Yet it's that point of view which either draws you in or revolts you immediately depending on one's temperament, a truly galvanizing role reversal whose essence dictates that, in order to really understand the American mindset, one must either be OF the conformists - in which case one would be blind to his own hypocrisies - or AGAINST the conformists, by which the only real understanding of the conformist's world could be ascertained by looking at his own non-conformist world through the prism of a fun house mirror. That analogy may be somewhat obtuse if you approach Thompson's work without a large dollop of surrealist thinking, but Hunter was never one for layman's terminology, and neither was Terry Gilliam one to oversimplify his source material.
There are those who are great fans of the novel who nonetheless look harshly on this film adaptation. In my opinion this is unfortunate, but I believe I can see why these fans may feel the way they do. In many ways, Gilliam's theatrical version usurps even the outlandishness of the book itself in it's carnivalesque portrait, there rarely being a calm moment to get one's bearings. My contention is not that Gilliam failed in his adaptation, but quite the opposite: I believe it's the literary nature of the book itself that makes it easier to absorb, in it's case the kaleidoscopic imagery being left more to the reader's imagination, which makes for the capability of either enhancing or "normalizing" the scenery of the text at the reader's whim. With the film, no such luxuries are afforded; the utmost imaginative capabilities are presumed as a pre-requisite, and Gilliam proves capable of keeping up with even the most abstract fantasist in this regard.
Taken in this context there is nothing to be held against the film at all. The performances are all flawless. The cinematography is appropriately earthy and washed out, nearly all the indoor scenes exhibiting the type of dim lighting favored by drunks and acid casualties, and even the outdoor shots appearing as if filmed behind the filter of tinted sunglasses. There are only a few scenes included in the book which are not adapted into the movie, and three of those are included as deleted scenes on both the Criterion edition and the Universal disc, the former being far preferred over the latter for it's encyclopedic wealth of bonus materials.
The Criterion release adds to the Universal debut with three commentary tracks, including a snarling, incoherent one with Hunter himself, his assistant along for the ride mainly to keep him on the subject, although - true to his character - he spares no expense taking potshots at the end results of the film, although one eventually gets the impression that nothing would have left him satisfied short of a production he himself shot, edited, and starred in (despite his friendship with Johnny Depp he can't help but take a few exceptions to Depp's portrayal of himself, particularly his cruelty toward the dwarf during the early Flamingo Hotel sequence).
Disc two houses most of the extras, the best of which is the 1978 documentary "Hunter Goes to Hollywood". This lengthy doc can be slow going at times but hits it's peak when Hunter actually gets to meet and talk with one of the Watergate conspirators (I won't ruin the surprise by disclosing which one but suffice to say it's not Nixon -- that would've warranted it's own full blown docu in and of itself). There is also a movingly pithy elegy to the vanished (presumed deceased) Oscar Zeta Acosta, that "high powered mutant" who was "God's own prototype" and Hunter's erstwhile companion for years before his disappearance. Speaking of Acosta, there is a lengthy reading by Oscar himself from his own "Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo" which is interesting but can get cloying after while; Acosta, for whatever his other merits, is not much of an engaging reader.
Finally, but not conclusively, there is an interesting excerpt from the audio CD version of the book featuring Harry Dean Stanton (who played the judge in the film). This is a scene at a taco stand in Vegas with Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo inquiring on the whereabouts of the American Dream, which the teenage taco vendor takes to be the name of a defunct dance club. It's an interesting thematic riff which never really takes off, and it was almost certainly an easy cut for the screen adaptation. There are wealth of other extras, divided up into matters relating to the book itself and those of the screen adaptation, and the packaging is some of the best you'll ever find on a DVD, so the extra cash for this Criterion release over the bare bones Universal one is a no-brainer. Even if you've never seen the film and aren't sure you'll like it, you'll be more likely to appreciate what all parties were trying to do here with the benefit of the supplemental material.
Description of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (The Criterion Collection)
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 02/18/2003 Run time: 119 minutesThe original cowriter and director of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was Alex Cox, whose earlier film Sid and Nancy suggests that Cox could have been a perfect match in filming Hunter S. Thompson's psychotropic masterpiece of "gonzo" journalism. Unfortunately Cox departed due to the usual "creative differences," and this ill-fated adaptation was thrust upon Terry Gilliam, whose formidable gifts as a visionary filmmaker were squandered on the seemingly unfilmable elements of Thompson's ether-fogged narrative. The result is a one-joke movie without the joke--an endless series of repetitive scenes involving rampant substance abuse and the hallucinogenic fallout of a road trip that's run crazily out of control. Johnny Depp plays Thompson's alter ego, "gonzo" journalist Raoul Duke, and Benicio Del Toro is his sidekick and so-called lawyer Dr. Gonzo. During the course of a trip to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, they ingest a veritable chemistry set of drugs, and Gilliam does his best to show us the hallucinatory state of their zonked-out minds. This allows for some dazzling imagery and the rampant humor of stumbling buffoons, and the mumbling performances of Depp and Del Toro wholeheartedly embrace the tripped-out, paranoid lunacy of Thompson's celebrated book. But over two hours of this insanity tends to grate on the nerves--like being the only sober guest at a party full of drunken idiots. So while Gilliam's film may achieve some modest cult status over the years, it's only because Fear and Loathing is best enjoyed by those who are just as stoned as the characters in the movie. --Jeff Shannon
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