Fear and
Loathing in
My preconceived image
of Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote the book which is the basis of the movie, does
not resemble Johnny Depp, who plays him here. Thompson, in my mind, is an
individual who, as befits someone who was an athlete from an early age and enjoys
outdoor physical pursuits, such as game hunting and shooting, has more of a rambunctious
physical presence than Depp. In spite of Depp’s decent efforts at
characterisation - the rolling sailor’s swagger, the hairpiece, the permanently-jawclamped cigarette holder - he never
really convinces as someone able to live life at Thompson’s pace as he
describes it. In fact, the cigarette holder occasionally makes it difficult for
Depp to clearly enunciate his lines.
Events are set in the
early 1970s. A narrator, Thompson/Depp, does what narrators do, which, in this case,
includes reminiscing on the failures of the LSD-tinged hippy experiment of the
1960s, and making similar allusions to the state of the wider world in this “corner
of time”. The actual phrase, “the American Dream”, is used at one point, which
perhaps belies the books age even more than the underlying premise that there
is something so inherently extraordinary about Thompson’s drug binges that their
recounting is worth the movie/book treatment. When he wrote the book, however, Thompson
couldn’t have foreseen that drug use and references would have become more acceptable
in mainstream popular culture than forty years ago. Most of the events here
revolve around drug-fuelled episodes in
Cameron Diaz, Harry
Dean Stanton, Gary Busey and others make cameo appearances. This contributes to
the suspicion that this movie might something of a labour of love for the actors, producers
and writers. There is no denying that the book is a cult classic, and apart
from the fact that some would hope to be part of a cult movie also, there is the
distinct possibility that Thompson’s free-spirited overindulgence and avowal of the principles of
free speech and liberty appeals to many
creative types, and to that to be involved in this movie is to acknowledge and respect the man as much
as anything else.