Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I was really looking forward to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because it was the last work of Gilliam's filmography that I had yet to see. My resulting impression, however, was more hesitant. Just to be clear, I believe that both the director and the two lead actors thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had a great time, perhaps like never before in their long careers. But when the crew is having fun, it doesn't necessarily mean that the viewer will have fun too. This film is a long, multi-day, hallucinogenic trip of two guys who decide to take a trip to the City of Sin with a suitcase full of drugs. It is filmed from the perspective of a drug addict and in a kind of "free cool" style that I would expect more from a commercial producer who took a detour into feature films. The hallucinogenic scenes serve Gilliam as his favorite surrealist scenes, so we get to watch as the surroundings of the drug addicts are filled with characters that promptly transform into all sorts of scum. Unfortunately, the film practically gives up on the story and both characters have essentially zero personalities that don't go anywhere or develop. The term that comes to mind for this film is stereotype and the resulting boredom. I could talk about the fact that Fear and Loathing has a quite problematic moral message that says "indulge yourself as long as you want, it will all pass and you will have lots of fun, seduce a young girl and do whatever you want with her, and don't ask what tomorrow will bring." If I were a drug dealer, I would consider this film a sympathetic two-hour advertisement. But even though it doesn't evoke any outrage in me, it just tired me out. While I don't deny a few entertaining moments, which are more related to how the film is cast in episodic roles rather than the quality of any gags or the comedic qualities of the characters, overall it is unquestionably the weakest Gilliam film worth somewhere between one and two stars. Overall impression: 30%. (04/22/2012)

I can't help it, but this movie just didn't say anything to me. On one hand, all scenes look improvised, which could be appreciated for the actors, and on the other hand, it's quite hard to watch because it simply lacks a plot. A film that I have avoided for a long time and maybe I should have continued to do so. (12/09/2016)

An original reflection of the time? An insight into the profound depths of a stoned brain? Gilliam is bristling with ideas in this peculiar road movie. Depp’s first attempt at creating Jack Sparrow, Del Toro excellent as always and Tobey Maguire in the role he was born for. No need to take any drugs, and in fact after watching this picture you won’t be wanting to take any. This has it all. And a great soundtrack. (02/07/2013)

This delirious look at the menagerie that is human civilisation through the magnificently chaotic lens of Terry Gilliam takes us through the disillusionment of not just the hangover that came with the 1970s. It is permeated by a timeless mix of admiring sympathy for all lunatics and wonderful prototypes, but also by an acknowledgement of the atrociousness of even the most brilliant individuals, who are supposedly elevated to a higher plane by God-given talent or perceptiveness. Fear and Loathing intoxicatingly reflects the generally repulsive world of values, experiences and illusions that humanity has created for itself and for which the hedonistic boil called Las Vegas is not the obverse, but merely a caricature. In this vomit-inducing flashback, the protagonists of Easy Rider appear as their own killers, who sought nirvana and freedom, but because of their own inherent human baseness, they ultimately remain the same monsters and oafs as the bumpkins, weasels, derelicts and bible thumpers who comprises the whole of humanity. Only they can more spectacularly live out their downhill slide into the snare of primitivism and more floridly verbalise it. Most of Gilliam’s films contain the duality of cheerful humanism and misanthropic depression, but Fear and Loathing remains his most controversial and most magnificent work not only in the intensity of the blending of these opposites. Each of its public screenings, always attended by various kinds of people, all of whom see themselves in an unflattering light on the screen, is a 4DX reality check, where some are simply entertained, some indignantly shake their heads and others realise with horror that each of us is just another lunatic in the kingdom of lunatics. (08/26/2024)

A horribly crazy something (probably a film), which, to my great delight, is not an ode to drugs, but which, under the surreal taking of existing and non-existent hallucinogens conceals a bitter message about the state of American society (because of which Terry Gilliam also co-wrote and directed all this). But I had to wait for a long time to be in the right mood for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, because it's so suggestively shot that my head always started hurting after 15 minutes and the STOP button saved me. (07/22/2018)