Rating: 
Summary: American Dream
Review: This is not a drug movie. This is a movie about a modern day genius. A man who was is not scared to take the world on.A man who could do anything and feel any way he wanted to any time he wanted.Isn't that the american dream? Isn't that freedom? We go on with our every day 9 to 5 lives, and consider a man like HST irresponsible.When in reality he is doing exactly what all of us want to do but are scared to.I say hats off to you MR. Thompson and thank you for inspiring me to do EXACTLY what I wanted to do,which was get back with my X wife and my 3 Kids. HST FOR PREZ!
Rating: 
Summary: Stick with the book
Review: I bought and read the book after the movie came out. I loved it and couldn't wait to see the movie. Then I saw the movie. I know the movie never meets the expectation after a book, but I really didn't see a shaved head Depp when I read the book. The lines come from the book, but they sounded very forced or fake to me. Maybe it was because the best parts of the book come from what's going on in his mind, and that is hard to translate to a movie. I wanted to love this movie, but I have to admit I never finished it.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy the ticket; take the ride
Review: If, when you rent this film, you are expecting a Cheech and Chong film, think twice. People frequently compare the two, but Fear and Loathing is not only infinitely better, it is not the screwball comedy everyone seems to think it is.Johnny Depp plays Raoul Duke, alter ego to gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote the book this film is based on. He is sent on an assignment by Rolling Stone to cover a motorcycle race in Las Vegas. Coming along for the ride is Dr. Gonzo (aka Oscar Zeta Acosta), Duke's repulsive attorney, played by Benicio del Toro. The two rent a very expensive convertible and bring along with them a case full of illegal drugs. The film is essentially the journey of two drug-fueled madmen through one of the most unfriendly cities in the country, but it's also a study on what life was like in 1971. In the end, as funny as it may be, it's really a docudrama. Gilliam directs the film in his classic "nightmarish" style, creating a truly hellish vision of America. But the biggest surprise of all is how true the screenplay is to the novel. Sure, like any adaptation, some good stuff is taken out, but if you compare what's written down, there isn't that much of a difference. Most enjoyable, however, are the performances. Johnny Depp is hilarious as Duke and Del Toro, despite how disgusting his character is, is nothing short of a scene stealer. The film is also ripe with cameos, the most memorable are the ones delivered by Harry Dean Stanton, Tobey Maguire, Gary Busey, and of course, Flea of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I recommend this to any Gilliam/Thompson fans, though in order to enjoy it, you need to watch it in a generally filthy atmosphere, and for some of you, you may need to see it more than once to really appreciate this. Overall, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a very good film filled with moments that stick with you for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: -Not very funny
-Annoying(Especially Depp's accent)
-Too strange
-Pointless, was there a plot? Bottom Line: Couldn't finish the entire movie.
Rating:
Summary: Yes its mindnumbing but its funny too.....
Review: I completely understand those who think after awhile this movie just knaws at your brain in the painful way redundacy always does. But i can't help giving this movie a good review....its too damned funny. Benicio and Depp are perfect and (along with the book) this movie has to have the most quotable funny lines in any movie I can think of.
Rating:
Summary: _Fear and Loathing_ finally gets its due
Review: Here's my candidate for the most underrated film of the 1990s: Terry Gilliam's film of Hunter S. Thompson's magnum opus revolted many critics and drove audiences away. It's absolutely brilliant. Depp's performance as Thompson's alter ego Raoul Duke (the inspiration for "Duke" in Garry Trudeau's comic strip _Doonesbury_) may be his finest to date, and for my money, Benicio del Toro's method performance as the bloated Dr. Gonzo surpasses his Oscar-winning work in _Traffic_. With his Monty Python pedigree, Gilliam proves more than a match for Thompson's hallucinatory source material. His shifts in and out of Duke's consciousness through the film reflect a similar instability in the book's own point of view. One often gets the sense in Thompson's writing that he's observing himself meticulously, but has lost all control of his actions. Gilliam's cinematic technique puts his audience in precisely that same unsettling position, and as a result, _Fear and Loathing_ may be the most honest film ever made about the experience of drug addiction. After nearly five years of undeserved obscurity, this little-seen gem finally gets its due in a glorious new 2-DVD edition by Criterion. It offers nearly total immersion into the gonzo world of Thompson, and features newly commissioned artwork by cult illustrator Ralph Steadman. The oodles of extras tell you more about Thompson, Steadman, and Dr. Gonzo (aka Oscar Acosta) than any sane person would ever want to know. Even Thompson himself gets into the act, contributing a typically garbled commentary track from within his Colorado compound. But for the general viewer, the most helpful extra may be Criterion's new English subtitles for the film, especially given that the slurred speech of Depp and Del Toro is none too easy to understand. Buy this DVD or rent, but for God's sake see it.
Rating:
Summary: Madness, Politics, Drug Use and Mean-Tempered Cops
Review: This DVD finally gives one of Terry Gilliam's lesser-loved (but brilliant!) films the red carpet treatment. The commentary from Gilliam is crazed and passionate; Depp and Del Toro really show off their wit, charm, and intelligence along with producer Laila Nabulsi's back-stage insight, and the last commentary is a rather odd and screwball one from Thompson himself. I won't tell you a thing about the last commentary. You've got to buy this and check it out on your own. (Here's a hint: 'Screeee-ahhhh! Raaaaaaaagh!' *other assorted sounds*) The second disc is crammed with some great goodies as well - Depp reads letters written to/from Thompson. There's a great BBC documentary showing HST and Ralph Steadman undertaking a trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Another gem is a snippet from an audio-book recording of Fear & Loathing with Jim Jarmusch as Raoul Duke! All definitely worth it. Fear and Loathing isn't just a drug movie (as all the extras on the DVD will reiterate over and over again) - it's a truthful, imaginative, twisted, and subversive take on the death of the most idealistic decade and generation. We get to see it all through the eyes of two renegade professionals, one a journalist and the other a lawyer, both fighting the good fight against scum and villainy. We can't stop here! THIS IS BAT COUNTRY.
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Summary: Review.. before the Criterion
Review: One of those movies you can't watch straight Just like when you watched Wizard of Oz in mute along with Pink Floyd's "Dark side of the moon", Fear & Loathing is one of those movies that you have to at least live part of the lifestyle to get through it. I saw it the first time and fell asleep right around the middle, after they got out of the hotel (the incident with throwing the tape recorder into the bathtub), but it was only temporary. On second viewing (and after reading the book about 3 more times), I was in a state of mind that wasn't quite right. Lying in the basement of a friend's house at 4am with the carpet soaked from the leaking house, drugs, booze, just DIRTY. And then, the whole movie made sense. It is a great film. But it is also a great book. Some parts of the movie take things from the end of the book and mash them right in the middle, which ends up working okay. It's a good movie, just make sure you're in the right state of mind... The criterion collection will bring alot of the behind the scenes things.. like info on Oscar Zeta Acosta (Dr Gonzo) and should prove worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: This movie was garbage. What's the point?
Review: OK, the acting was excellent. And the carpet acid trip effect was cool, BUT the sundry drug trips these dudes were perpetually on wore thin after about 15 minutes. As did their 'tune in, tune out' message. Proceeding to watch the whole senseless film was like chinese water torture. There is a reason Maltin rated this lousy film 'A BOMB'!
Rating:
Summary: Don't stop! We're in bat country!
Review: How could a movie like this be made in the late 1990's, when the caricature of a civilization that Thompson saw in Las Vegas has spread across the country and found itself in every local mall, fitness center, specialty shop, and Longaberger party? Yet, in this hideous state of the world, Terry Gilliam somehow found enough people with enough money to thrust this film into mainstream distribution, showing that there was still at least a shred of hope at this late stage in our de-evolution. There's a lot of drug use in this movie, but it comes across as noble and necessary self-medication against the creeping rot of ordinary culture and "normal" mental states. The main characters have no choice but swallow and smoke as much as they possibly can to preserve their humanity. And swallow and smoke they do. This is colorful, spontaneous and well-crafted affair. Don't expect your parents to either enjoy or understand it if they are over the age of 40, and the odds of them liking it if they are under 40 are still low. It is just too odd, long, despairing, and simultaneously carefree for modern sensibilities. Oh well. Enjoy. And please, whatever you do, don't do drugs. You're liable to find yourself ogling reptiles at the local bar and grill.
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