Yar, you be here: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Criterion Collection > Customer Reviews

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Criterion Collection Customer Reviews (34 - 36 of 80 Reviews)

What a waste
God, what a cult film that doesn't deserve it's status. A few friends of mine clamored over this, saying "dude, you have to see it, it's freaking great". For the first 20 minutes, I was right there with them. Great visuals, rolling into Vegas and whatnot. Then they tripped out. Again. And again. And again. And it's not funny. We're just as bored and confused as the characters, sitting in their hotel rooms, trying to guess what they did. Wow, that's a great way to spend 2 hours. A lot of people love this for the drugs, and well, if you're into that you'll probably enjoy it too. If you like to pretend your into it, it'll be even greater for you.

The only thing that saves this from a 1 star rating is Depp's performance, who I must say atleast narrates well.

You don't have to be stoned to like this movie . . .
but if you have ever been taken acid, this could ring a few bells. Initially, this movie is a riot, but after a while, as you'd expect, it becomes a bad trip of excess and drunken belligerence, which only goes to show where the drug fueled "enlightenment" of the Sixties eventually led by the Seventies. Those who can't, or won't, see the humor in the cultural clash of that time won't be much amused, but with a little more attention, one may see this as a movie (partially) about how the drug/counter culture couldn't continue any more than the straight society which made it seem like such extremity might be The Answer. Those (like me) who'd rather see a whole movie of the riot of the first fifteen minutes of this one might want to taste it straight at least once, if only just to see if we're not still on the same road to Hell we were thirty years ago, only a little closer.

Point of Movie
This movie was a political movie. Yes, there is one drug crazed scene after another, but you have to look at the other parts of the movie that are there. It's the end of a culture, a war we never belonged in, the direction America was headed at that time. And the feelings of HST about it all and sensing that they had pushed too far.
When I watched the movie for the first time, I watched it with the commentary first with Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, and the producer. They explain alot about the movie that I think some people are missing. It takes a certain type of person to understand and enjoy this movie and Hunter S. Thompson. He is
(was) his own person and one of the few that was honest about the destruction of America. He will be deeply missed and one can only pray that we are blessed with another, similar to him; for no one could ever be like him. If you've seen the movie and were not really impressed, I challenge you to rent the Criterion Collection DVD and watch it with the commentaries and the extras. It will enlighten you like no drug ever could. In the words of Hunter, "Buy the ticket, take the ride." And what a ride it is!

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