Realism has never much interested Terry Gilliam. It's fascinating to consider that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the drug-fueled mind-bender based on Hunter S. Thompson's seminal book, is also likely his most realistic piece of filmmaking. The book was Thompson's tour-de-force of "Gonzo journalism," a style he helped define by trying to make journalism that was as in the moment, uncensored, and subjectively and emotionally true as possible. Both Gilliam and Thompson hold that "realism" and "objectivity" are false and useless constructs, so it makes sense that sooner or later the two should join.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, like most Gilliam films, had a troubled history. Many had tried to get the project off the ground in the past, and it had eventually become known as one of those unfilmable properties, projects so bizarre and idiosyncratic that someone would have to be mad to attempt it. Multiple writers tried their hands at adaptations, but eventually Gilliam threw them all out and worked off the cuff with writer Tony Grisoni, which led to a battle for writing credits with the WGA. On its initial release, the film was a critical dud and tanked financially.
And yet, it lives. It has become a cult film, passed around from person to person, quoted and reenacted by mutual appreciators, vehemently defended in late night bar conversations. In its failure it has become, to many, a very personal film.
Which makes a review of this standard Blu-ray somewhat difficult. As far as what Blu-ray is known for, extraordinary visual and audio quality, the disc is a total winner. The film, awash in the garishness of Vegas, the dust-covered grit of the motorcycle race and the psychedelic hallucinations of the near-constant drug binges, looks absolutely astounding.
Visualizing a drug trip is a dangerous thing to attempt on film. All kinds of drugs affect all kinds of people in all kinds of ways. Choose one way, and risk everyone who has had a different experience calling you disingenuous and wrong. Gilliam wisely focuses the drug scenes as reactions against the environments in which Johnny Depp's Raoul Duke and Benicio Del Toro's Dr. Gonzo find themselves. The drugs are not used to escape the reality around the characters, but to accentuate it into grotesqueness and reveal its hidden truths.
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Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"it may take a while for them"
Universal took back the rights so don't expect anything from Criterion unless there's a new deal in place.
2 - Jake Thomas
That's a massive bummer. I suppose that's another vote for picking this up. The big fans already have the Criterion, so this can be for just watching the movie, the Criterion can be for hearing Hunter S. Thompson screech across a commentary and watch him get cantankerous with British journalists back in the day.
It's kind of weird that there's not anything on this Blu-ray that addresses the passing of Thompson. He doesn't even make an appearance in the Spotlight on Location feature. Bummer, indeed.
3 - El Bicho
Announced today there's quite a few classics Criterion is losing as studios see the market and demand.
Expect a Blu double-dip of FLLV to tie in when Rum Diary opens. I am almost sure of it. Maybe it will have more extras