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- Apr 23, 2008
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Title: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Year: 1998
Country of Origin: US
Director: Terry Gilliam
Story: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."
Review: I've read a lot of Thompson's work over the years and this story is by far and away the most insane that he has written. It beats the time he went the the Kentucky Derby and it beats the time he got the crap kicked out of him by the Hells Angles. This story is pretty much the apex of Thompson's career...even though Thompson considered it a failure of his brand of journalism.
The story follow a journalist Raoul Duke, who is Thompson and is played by Depp, and his attorney Dr. Gonzo, who is Oscar Acosta and is played by del Toro. These two character go out to Las Vegas to find the American dream and if possible cover a motorcycle race, which was the actual reason why they went on this trip. Accompanying them on this trip was, "...two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls."
The film was shot almost entirely in wide angle, which gives the film its hallucinatory look...and I've let this review go on for too long.
[7/10]














