Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson Reviews
March 5, 2021
Thompson shot himself in despair. The critical issue, which the film sidesteps, is the utterly moribund state of American liberalism.
October 31, 2019
Gonzo is an intimate portrait of a character who was truly larger than life.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
September 12, 2018
Gibney's focus on Thompson at his most politically relevant is welcome, but it renders the broader picture less than complete, particularly when it comes to his early life influences.
February 3, 2018
It serves both as an introduction to the life and times of an influential American and as a way to reflect on the ways in which news is handled today.
August 15, 2011
Thompson is dead but his skepticism survives. In the land of endless corruption, the muckraker is king, if only in the moral sense.
March 24, 2011
This movie has confirmed my suspicion that people need to leave Hunter S. Thompson's story alone for a while.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
August 9, 2010
Alex Gibney's documentary (aligns) the Gonzo's descent into madness with the decline of American values.
June 12, 2010
Gonzo's brilliance is in showing Thompson warts and all, without taking anything away from his greatness even as it shows his many deficiencies.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7.7/10
May 26, 2009
Alex Gibney's documentary about bad boy journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is both a memorial exaltation and a lament. Gibney's masterful style balances verite and dramatic effect. He doesn't doesn't tell you what to think, but spurs you to think.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
February 5, 2009
A colorful documentary about the famed journalist and author, Hunter S. Thompson, spiced up with movie clips of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works based on Thompson's writings.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
December 19, 2008
A definitive, accessible, even inspiring screen biography put together with thought and vitality.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
December 19, 2008
The film's plea that we need Thompson now more than ever is a little misty-eyed: Thompson's day was long gone by the time he put a gun to his head.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/6
December 19, 2008
Much like the man himself, it's quite a piece of work.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
December 19, 2008
Gonzo is much more than a tribute to a maverick and genuine pioneer. It's a lament for the gaping hole that Thompson left behind. The only obvious weakness is Gibney's reluctance to engage fully with Thompson's toxic personal life.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
December 19, 2008
This documentary about his life by Alex Gibney, though entertaining in many ways, is oddly uninterested in his strengths or otherwise as a writer, the very gift for which Thompson earnestly wished to be known.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
December 19, 2008
Director Alex Gibney has plundered 200 hours of audiotapes, hundreds of photos and personal testimony from an impressive roster of Thompson's colleagues and family to put together an even-handed portrait.
Original Score: 3/5
December 19, 2008
A straight-line journey through the good doctor's loopy myth and madness, but one that doesn't push far enough into uncharted territory. Fine as a primer, but Gibney leans more towards admiration than examination.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
December 19, 2008
The film is content to laugh affectionately at Thompson's bad boy exploits, giggle at the impatience of a man who went hunting boar with a sub machine-gun.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
December 19, 2008
Crackingly entertaining documentary.
December 19, 2008
Thompson must be looking down, or up, from his afterworld thinking: "The worst success is a failure to keep alive the spirit of offendedness and outrage."