Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Note: the screenshots featured here are taken from the standard definition DVD release of the film and should not be considered in any way representative of the actual quality of the HD DVD's transfer.

Journalist Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his attorney cohort, Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), head off across the desert towards Las Vegas with a trunk filled with every drug imaginable. Their mission: to cover the $50,000 Mint 400 Desert Race... or at least that's the theory. Somewhere along the way, the pair become lost in a heady cocktail of drugs, booze and depraved behaviour as they plunge deep into the bowels of the surreal...

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a difficult movie for me to review. On the one hand, it's an undeniably well-made piece of cinema, and I very much appreciate what Terry Gilliam has achieved in attempting to adapt a book that, like so much of the stream of consciousness, drug-induced literature of the 1960s, would surely have been considered unfilmable. Conversely, I have a very hard time watching it and not feeling incredibly frustrated. If anything, the transition from book to film is too smooth: the final product is atmospheric, yes, but it's also frequently pointless, always meandering, and overlong to the point of redundancy.


It's definitely tempting to draw parallels between this and that other major 90s adaptation of a supposedly unfilmable drug novel, David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. Both go down a similar route, appropriating the author as a character in the film, while attempting to capture the paranoia and confusion of both the period and drug dependency. However, while Cronenberg's approach was to invent various drugs (mugwump jism, anyone?) and use William Burroughs's book as only a very loose inspiration for the finished film, Gilliam's interpretation of the Hunter S. Thompson opus is more literal, attempting to capture the true sensation of being under the influence of drugs. This is not an experience I have personally had, so I have no idea whether or not Gilliam's depiction is accurate, but I must admit that, were this film the only depiction I had ever seen of drug addiction, I would imagine the experience to be a very mundane and boring one. At just a shade under two hours, Fear and Loathing is slow-moving and at times incredibly tedious, with its characters flitting from location to location but the narrative never really going anywhere.

Again, I suspect that this is, in many ways, completely intentional and an accurate depiction of its subject matter. The overall feeling is one of distinct detachment, with the events unfolding on screen in a manner suggesting that neither the viewer, the director or the characters have any control over them. Gilliam is careful to avoid either condoning or condemning the actions of Duke and Dr. Gonzo, but in doing so gives the film an air of complete detachment. It's difficult to care about these characters either way, because they are so one-dimensional and their actions so repetitive. Yes, the dialogue, especially that of Duke (an attempt to faithfully capture the unique rhythm of Thompson's writing), is often very funny, but it's funny in a nonsensical way as opposed to a clever way, and all too often relies on its audience appreciating the funny side of a man completely out of his skull blundering around and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.


I don't, however, mean to imply that the film is in any way a dead loss. There is some incredibly evocative imagery on display, ranging from the cel-animated bat silhouettes reflected in Duke's sunglasses to the grotesque lizard creatures that the patrons of a Las Vegas bar morph into before his very eyes as the ether he has consumed take hold. It's not always an attractive film - at times it looks muddy and incomprehensible - but this seems to be the point. Holding it all together, though, is Johnny Depp in the role of Duke. Like Peter Weller in Naked Lunch, he plays the role as a close imitation of the book's author, in this case adopting a number of Thompson's mannerisms and quirks, right down to the voice. He makes Duke a decidedly larger than life character, swaggering around and spitting his dialogue out through clenched teeth, and, as usual for this actor, he completely disappears inside the role. As does Benicio Del Toro, practically unrecognisable behind an unkempt mass of hair and several additional roles of flab. The rest of the cast, meanwhile, is comprised of numerous familiar faces, often showing up to deliver little more than a few lines, from Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci and Cameron Diaz to Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey and Harry Dean Stanton. Many of these big name stars agreed to work for considerably less than their usual rates, and, despite the chaotic, fragmented nature of the film, there is a feeling of a bunch of players all coming together for a special gig.

I must confess that, ultimately, I'm undecided on how I feel about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. There are times when it annoys me so much that I want to put a brick through my television, and yet at the same time it holds a perverse fascination for me. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say I like it, but it's certainly unique among films: an amoral, anarchic binge of a movie that, despite its cast of Hollywood A-listers, could never truly be described as mainstream. As such, it's very much one of those titles that everyone has to experience for themselves. Unashamedly a work of style over substance (which is no bad thing), I'm sure everyone's reaction to it will be different. Who knows? You may like it a lot more than me. Or a lot less.


DVD Presentation

The benchmark release for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has been, for some time, the 2-disc standard definition Criterion Collection version. Unfortunately, neither it nor Universal's proprietary release featured a particularly impressive transfer - in fact, I'd go so far as to say that they were decidedly weak. Luckily, the HD DVD releases supercedes both of these, and, while it may not be a "perfect" transfer like that of Serenity or Unleashed, it's so much better than its predecessors that that it's literally like watching a different film.

Taken from a film element (presumably the 35mm interpositive also used for the Criterion and Universal standard definition releases, judging by the identical print damage), the first thing that leaps out is the monumental increase in clarity. The opening drive through the desert looks fresh and new, lacking the hazy, foggy appearance of the DVDs and literally coming alive in terms of film grain. The close-ups are eye-popping - for example, I never noticed Johnny Depp's character's clumsy shaving job before. Naturally, the increase in clarity continues to be evident throughout the film, although this is more evident in some scenes than others. The darker sequences in the hotel, for example, unsurprisingly look slightly less defined than those taking place in the stark sunlight of the desert. However, they still show a considerable improvement in colour saturation, with the rich pinks, reds and blues really giving you the impression that you're in the middle of a drug-induced hallucination rather than watching the events through a layer of grime.

The transfer is also pleasingly free of tampering, although, like Red Dragon, it also exhibits a degree of horizontal edge enhancement. This is overall a mid to high 8/10. It's fairly near the bottom of the heap as far as Universal's HD DVD transfers go, but that's no small achievement given how uniformally excellent they've been so far. For comparison, I'd put it on around the same level as Warner's Constantine, which also suffered from slight edge enhancement.

Audio-wise, you get a choice between Dolby True-HD 5.1 and Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 tracks, both of which sound reasonably similar. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is not exactly a stand-out title as far as sound goes, which is rather disappointing given that the hallucinatory nature of the narrative should have been the perfect opportunity to indulge in some truly whacked-out audio design. On a number of occasions, the rears kick into action, such as during the "bat attack" near the start of the film, and Dr. Gonzo's flailing around in the bathtub in the hotal, but for the most part this is a very front-focused mix, with the action constrained almost entirely to the centre channel. The dialogue is generally fine, although much of it - especially Johnny Depp's narration - has an overly punchy, muffled feel that I suspect may have been intentional. In any event, it sounded just the same on the two standard definition releases of the film, so it's certainly not a problem with the encoding of the HD DVD.

If I had to pick a preferred track here, it would be the True-HD one, which has a slight edge in terms of clarity. There's not a lot between it and the DD-Plus track, though - certainly not as much as, say, Constantine - so either should suffice at the end of the day. Spanish and French Dolby Digital-Plus 2.0 dubs are also provided, as well as English, Spanish and French subtitles, which pertain to both the film and the extras.


Extras

As much of an improvement as the HD DVD release is in terms of image quality, fans who already own Criterion's release are likely to want to hang on to it for its two discs' full of extras, because the bonus materials on offer with this release are decidedly lacklustre. In addition to the film's original theatrical trailer, we get a selection of three deleted scenes, chalking up a total of around 10 minutes running time. These scenes were also included in Criterion's release, along with optional commentary by Terry Gilliam, which is unfortunately not included here. A generic "Spotlight on Location" featurette is also provided, which does a rather poor job of trying to package a decidedly complex film as if it were the latest road movie comedy. Sadly, there really is nothing to write home about as far as extras go for this release, but I have a feeling it's the best we're going to get for this film in high definition for some time.


Overall

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a film that this reviewer finds both fascinating and intensely irritating in equal measure. It's perhaps an unusual choice for an early high definition release, but it is certainly well-served by the format in terms of both audio and video, even if the extras are decidedly lacking. Still, those who enjoy the film and are HD-equipped are unlikely to be disappointed by this release, which offers a substantial aesthetic upgrade over its standard definition counterparts.