Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a cult classic movie directed by Terrance Gilliam and stars Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. It was released in 1998.
It’s visually superb, and Depp and Del Toro give great performances in this gambling movie. It is a vicious drug-fuelled screed that details how the hippie ideal became corrupted by the Nixon era and how it influenced the American Dream.
The Main Story
A magazine has assigned Duke (Johnny Depp) to travel to Vegas and cover the Mint 400 cycle race. However, the duo has also decided to take advantage of the assignment and purchase a large variety of drugs, which sets them on a downward spiral. Chaos and mayhem reign supreme, their drug-induced states see them destroying hotel rooms and leaving casinos due to hallucinations.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a narrative of a reporter’s drug-induced delusions while on Las Vegas assignment. It’s supposed to be a journey with a journalistic purpose but turns into the exploration of Vegas and Casinos under the umbrella of illegal substances.
The movie did not get very good reviews as it was considered “strange” by movie critics, and the weird part is that there was no budget in place when filming began.
The Ending
The movie’s end shows Dr Gonzo ditching Duke in Vegas and leaving him with an outrageous bill for the hotel room. However, Duke tracks Gonzo down, and the duo land up attending the conference in a drug-induced state. They leave the conference early after spending most of the time discreetly snorting cocaine, while the guest speaker is ironically taking about marijuana addicts!
Duke drops Gonzo off at the airport and then returns to his hotel to finish his article before driving to Las Vegas.
