The drugs hit me at about the halfway mark of the trip. My best mate was driving when I looked up and saw the pterodactyls gliding across the sky I made sure to keep quiet, what could happen if my friend found out? Maybe he’d drive off a cliff in sheer panic and upon impact, the 10 kilos of cocaine in the boot would dissipate into the air. ‘Horse With No Name’ was on its 6th playthrough now and just as the first chorus began, I saw a police car in the distance. Damn it, we haven’t even made it to the heroin yet.
‘Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas’ is a black comedy directed by Monty Python member and absurdist filmmaker Terry Gilliam. The film follows the journey of two drug addicts as they write articles for their magazine. It is almost a perfect adaptation of the the Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name, with a few scenes, and the original ending (which I preferred) removed. Reading the book and watching the film all in one day felt a bit fractured, I wondered whether I rushed through the book or Thompson actually wrote it fast-paced. However, when I finished the film, I saw the drug-trip masterpiece Thompson and Gilliam created.
Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo are friends and colleagues travelling around Las Vegas with a car loaded with narcotics and alcohol, on the way to cover a race. As the film proceeds, we find ourselves trapped in their minds, facing time-skips, psychoactive hallucinations and paranoia. We watch as the pair find themselves constantly on the wrong side of the law and hilariously stumble their way out of trouble. With the realisation that the times and the country is rapidly changing, however, they examine themselves and their place in a world gone mad.
Johnny Depp plays Raoul Duke and nails the quick-fire, quick-wit delivery. There’s an odd charm in his manipulative, dishonest ways. Depp’s physical comedy shines here as well, his mannerisms, his walk and his tone of voice always cracked a smile out of me. Benicio Del Toro plays Dr Gonzo and finds a nice balance between out-of-his-mind inebriated and sober straight man. His scene in the cafe in North Las Vegas is performed so brilliantly, it dismantles the whole morality of the character we’ve built up. I only wish Del Toro and Depp had more scenes bouncing off each other, most scenes involve one of the pair nearly blacking out.
The translation from book to film is almost identical, but I do wish Gilliam made some changes. After reading the book I was excited to see whether Ralph Steadman’s illustrations would make for a brief animated scene, especially with Gilliam behind the Monty Python animations. However, that, and the book’s ending were not realised in the film. If you can, I highly recommend both watching and reading ‘Fear And Loathing’, both had me laughing hysterically.
Mason’s Top 3 Reasons To Watch ‘Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas’
- Dozens of celebrity cameos to shock and amuse
- A hilarious showcase of drug culture in the 1970s
- An amazing blend of comedy and paranoid horror
Mason Horsley is a graduate of UOW with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Theatre. He hopes to write and direct a feature film and has been working on screenplays since he was 17. He writes film reviews for the Tertangala and works on his latest project ‘The Last Film’ while working a full-time job at a fish market. Mason despises reviewing films he dislikes and because of this, every review he writes acts as a recommendation.
Image Credit: IMDb