"We can't stop here! This is bat country!"

Now.. admittedly, this movie can get very tedious. I'm not particularly a Johnny Depp fan, but now and again, I see some works of his (Sleepy Hollow, What's Eating Gilbert Grape) that remind me of what a class actor he really is. Having spent a lot of time with Hunter S. Thompson obviously worked a charm with Depp, as his performance shines as drugged out journalist Raoul Duke.
Duke has set off to Vegas with his attorney and a boot-full of the craziest drugs you could ever imagine in one setting. The entire course of the film is basically one enormous trip, and the part I particularly enjoyed about this film is that no matter how bent, there's always Duke talking you through the moment - expressing his terror and euphoria.

I heard something about a lot of parents lobbying against this film because of the high drug intake, but in my opinion, after seeing bats attack you, reptiles in the casino lounge, and your attorney grow breasts on the side of his body, I don't think I'd ever touch the stuff these guys take. Films like Requiem For A Dream, Trainspotting and Fear and Loathing just help emphasise the reality of drug taking, and show the lows as well as the highs.
I commend the crew on this one.

HELL-LUCINATIONS

More than sex, food or survival, we are creatures driven to find meaning in our lives (or so it's said by those who claim to know such things). A recent film that taps into that mindset, with varying degrees of success, is now available in a fine digital edition.

An existential morass of meaningless chaos is navigated by two chemically and morally wasted seekers in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. More an exploration of images and spirit than plot, Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's trip (pun intended) to Las Vegas to cover a motor cycle race is mostly a non-narrative, non-linear reflection of the mental state of Thompson's alter ego Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his sidekick/lawyer Doctor Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro).

Gilliam brings Ralph Steadman's drawings to life and delivers an overlooked comic masterpiece that's like walking through an art fair put on by the giddily drugged inmates of an asylum.

The huge cache of extras on this superb two-disc, director-approved, special edition includes a marvelously detailed and sometimes dementedly funny commentary by Gilliam recorded in London last year (2002). The commentary by Depp and Del Toro is also woth a listen. (This review refers to the Criterion edition DVD)

Absolutely Hilarious

This isn't your average movie. Based on the H.S Thompson novel, tt quite succesfully captures the literary insanity of Thompson's books (I'm actually 16, not twelve). Here's the scenario, two stoners running around Las Vegas. All the jokes are based around the wild, outrageous hallucinations of Raul Duke, and his "side kick" Dr. Gonzo. But damned if the many variations of the same basic joke aren't guiltily hilarious every single time. In one scene, Raul and Gonzo are in a bar, When Raul freaks out, thinking that all the bar patrons have been turned into monstrous lizards.
Weird- absolutely Funny- You bet.