Harmon Kardon

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas The original cowriter and director of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was Alex Cox, whose earlier film Sid and Nancy suggests that Cox could have been a perfect match in filming Hunter S. Thompson’s psychotropic masterpiece of “gonzo” journalism. Unfortunately Cox departed due to the usual “creative differences,” and this ill-fated adaptation was thrust upon Terry Gilliam, whose formidable gifts as a visionary filmmaker were squandered on the seemingly unfilmable elements of Thompson’s ether-fogged narrative. The result is a one-joke movie without the joke–an endless series of repetitive scenes involving rampant substance abuse and the hallucinogenic fallout of a road trip that’s run crazily out of control. Johnny Depp plays Thompson’s alter ego, “gonzo” journalist Raoul Duke, and Benicio Del Toro is his sidekick and so-called lawyer Dr. Gonzo. During the course of a trip to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, they ingest a veritable chemistry set of drugs, and Gilliam does his best to show us the hallucinatory state of their zonked-out minds. This allows for some dazzling imagery and the rampant humor of stumbling buffoons, and the mumbling performances of Depp and Del Toro wholeheartedly embrace the tripped-out, paranoid lunacy of Thompson’s celebrated book. But over two hours of this insanity tends to grate on the nerves–like being the only sober guest at a party full of drunken idiots. So while Gilliam’s film may achieve some modest cult status over the years, it’s only because Fear and Loathing is best enjoyed by those who are just as stoned as the characters in the movie. –Jeff Shannon
Customer Review: Awesome movie!
If you haven’t seen this movie I don’t know where you’ve been. It’s based on the novel written by Hunter S. Thompson, who is one of the most fascinating people of this century. Buy this today.
Customer Review: Would be great IF IT WORKED!
Well I thought it was time to add this to my DVD collection and ordered it from Amazon. So I get it pop it in the ole Dvd Player and at 58 minutes in it freezes…and makes it impossible to see chapters 12-16. So I figure no big deal just have them send a replacement.

So the replacement comes. I pop it in start watching and guess what happens at 58 minutes in? Defective. The amazon rep says they have had this issue and it is widespread so why not pull them off your site? Why not have them manually inspected?

So now I am returning the 2nd one for a full refund. A refund BTW I have to wait 7-10 days for. I mean clearly I should be punished because of the lack of quality assurance at amazon.

So I bought the same title from a local video store today for a little more take it home and pop it in the ole DVD player and guess what happens? Works perfectly.

I give the movie 5 stars. I give the product itself and service associated with it 1 but would give less if possible.