Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 50
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 26
Visually creative, but also aimless, repetitve, and devoid of character development.
Average Rating: 3.9/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 7
Visually creative, but also aimless, repetitve, and devoid of character development.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 246,898
Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King) directed this colorful, stylized, pseudo-psychedelic $21-million adaptation of the 1971 Hunter S. Thompson classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream, about stoned sportswriter Raoul Duke, Thompson's alter ego, on a wild drug-crazed road trip, a paranoid plummet into the belly of the beast, with his pal, lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta. Originally serialized in Rolling Stone (November 1971), the
R, 1 hr. 58 min.
May 22, 1998 Wide
Nov 17, 1998
Universal Pictures
All Critics (73) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (28) | DVD (30)
The fear is comical; the loathing almost nonexistent.
Certainly uneven at times, but Terry Gilliam's surreal mood piece paints a vivid, splashy picture of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
A beautiful cinematic showcase for Thompson at the peak of his writing skills.
It may start off as a lighthearted, excess-filled, party-road-trip movie, but Depp is reigned in a little towards the end as his character (a stand-in for Thompson) poetically bemoans the sad failure of the late-60s ideals and values.
More headache than head trip.
This is the best acid-inspired movie since Roger Corman's The Trip - and it is a darn sight more accurate in its depiction [of] the highs and the lows, the terrible confusion alternating with lucidity, the excitement that gives way to paranoia.
...he first hour of the film is as successful as anything I've ever seen or read at conveying how the world looks to the drugged.
Years from now, it will be reappraised as a misunderstood masterpiece. Well, this is one American critic who's not waiting until years from now.
Gilliam shows that there is something appealing about drug highs. It wouldn't be honest to say otherwise. And, yes, they'll destroy you. It's honest about that too.
Unlike Trainspotting, Fear and Loathing doesn't shock or fascinate. It simply disgusts and repels.
Raoul Duke: The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride. "Four days, Three nights, Two Convertibles, One City."Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is easily the most perfect adaption of a book ever done. I can't think of a
January 31, 2011
Super Reviewer
Truly capturing the bizarre yet philosophical world of Hunter S. Thompson, director Terry Gilliam along with stars Johnny Depp (one of his absolute best performances) and Benicio del Toro deliver one of the most visually hypnotic experiences I've seen in some time. Definitely not for everyone though!
December 27, 2011Super Reviewer
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