Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
I have been told that you need to be high to fully enjoy this film. That is certainly true, but I think a certain state of mind created by alcohol, tiredom, incredible boredom or trashy music is enough, especially since you will then still have enough brainpower to compute what you are seeing just now.
Personally I think the film is about just as brilliant as “Naked Lunch” was, perhaps even better. Without any doubt, it’s a cult film and, unlike Dune, I cannot see how else you could adapt a book like this into a movie except for the way Terry Gilliam did it. It’s crazy, funny, and features the perfect actors for the role – is somebody else but Johnny Depp truly able to pull of this kind of craziness? I can see how Johnny Depp has studied the author extensively and am yet again impressed at how versatile he is.
I don’t know if this film has a problem with it glorifying the use of drugs. (Strong drugs to boot!) It doesn’t seem to be received that way, and the negative criticism of the film is mostly related to how the film is chaotic and lacks a coherent plot. Nobody seems to mind that we are talking about drugs here – not that I mind.
In the end, I can’t believe I have never seen this film before. I think it would have made another impact on me if I had been 17. Even if you have no idea what drug-induced hallucinations are like, the idea of it would probably have a much stronger, more interesting influence if you were young. In that respect, I think that I really liked the movie for how it is presented (oh my God Johnny Depp fingerling), but I am not so interested in the story itself, even if it’s supposed to be a sweet parody of the vulgarity of Las Vegas. It was a good trip though.