Who is the Audience for This Movie?

People who like documentaries that focus on a persons life.

What I Liked About This Movie

Since I was a child of the late 80’s most of Hunter S. Thompson’s was either done before my time or too early in my life for me to take notice. My only exposure to anything with has name attached to it before watching Gonzo was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Since that was a fictitious movie I couldn’t really get a barometer of who the man really was. After watching Gonzo, Fear and Loathing makes a lot more sense now and it makes me want to give it another viewing.

Gonzo in no way sugar coats Hunter’s mental state or any of his actions. Instead you learn from both friends and family exactly what made him tick. In Hunter’s case it just so happened to be drugs/alcohol. In no way was he a perfect man but he was who he was. Structurally the movie takes the point A to Z approach. You start from the beginning of his career until his eventual suicide later in his life. To help tell the story of his life more authentically a lot of old footage of him is used. It ends up lending a lot of credibility to the proceedings.

What Didn’t Work For Me

Some of the effects used to make sections of the movie look “trippy” are pretty lame. They really should have either kept it professional looking or put more effort into making the “trippy” aspect more effective. In particular the interview shot of one of his wives that appears quite frequently could have done without the green screen effects behind her.

Johnny Depp provided voice-over’s where need and I am still unsure why he did. I know he played him Fear and Loathing but it felt like a cheap ploy to me. Beyond that I was slightly unhappy with the movies conclusion because it goes out quite softly.

Should You Watch This Movie?

Sure. I found it fairly interesting and worth watching.

My Rating (Out of 13)

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