Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Limited Edition 4K UHD [Blu-ray] [2023] [Region Free]

This Arrow is the best blu-ray transfer of this film: 4K, though not a 4K disc. Sharper with nuanced contrast despite such vibrant colours. Beautiful. Those dutch angles really make you lean into them now.So there are now TWO indispensable editions of F & L IN LAS Vegas: this blu-ray, and the old American Criterion double DVD with the great animated Menu design that blu-rays just don't do anymore.(Why did the great tradition of DVD Menus animated in the spirit of the featured film stop with the introduction of blu-rays?)The old Criterion double-DVD had unbeatable, prolific Extras, mostly supplemental to HST's writing career (including a HST audio commentary, if you can translate what he's mumbling - - not ported over to Arrow's release). Arrow's extras lean toward Steadman's half of the Faustian bargain.Quite a few new Arrow Extras and some ported older ones here. All new Extras are worth watching more than once.Benico Del Toro is so intelligent in his interview, I wish there were more footage, so insightful about HST's writing, with his own thoughts instead of the usual cliches, that I thought, 'My God, he should write a Book about the work of HST!' On Criterion's disc release, HST in commentary objected to the way Depp disdainfully treated a midget hotel waiter as something he would never do; HST liked the film but not that scene. That HST commentary isn't the one on Arrow's release. But in an Arrow extra, Benito Del Toro recalls asking HST about the Vegas book, 'Why were you so mean to the working classes?' Now that is a brilliant question no scholar has ever thought to ask, and you can find out what HST replied in this interview.Terry Gilliam's new audio commentary is a hoot, of course, and well mediated by a moderator who keeps low key to feature Gilliam. Gilliam sounds older now; he's cogent, and recalls a lot, but one or two memory lapses have me worried.The 2nd disc is the definitive documentary feature about Ralph Steadman, made with Steadman's extensive input, FOR NO GOOD REASON - - already available elsewhere on DVD but this Arrow release has an extra Extra, a short film adaptation of Steadman's work. Johnny Depp shows up a lot in the film and on the soundtrack and reads some HST writing - - always a good thing. Depp is to HST what Richard Burton was to Dylan Thomas: the best narrator of the author's writing on record.The interview with producer Laila Nabulsi clues you in on what a major contribution she made to the film, and, likewise, the less-than-20-minutes could have been twice that and well worth the extra time.Four rare interviews bundled together, with the costume designer and cinematographer and editor and production designer, add insight and history to the project that you will not have heard before.The 2006 feature documentary BUY THE TICKET TAKE THE RIDE has been available on DVD for years, so it feels like no Extra at all on this disc if you already have it - - but if you don't, it's one of the additions that makes this release a genuine bargain even without a sales price.The small book has some old writing that HST aficionados will already have in full, and some new writing that isn't worth reading - - par for the course as DVD booklets go. The art card photos are garish and as I see it worthless. The double-sided poster is nothing special. This release is all about the 2 discs, and there;s no good reason to pay extra for the paperwork if you can get the discs separately.The film and the book are about an insurmountable culture clash between the radical underground and the Silent Majority, a generation gap between conservative Americana and youth dissenters: a double-edged Culture Shock where Thompson and his attorney were AT LEAST as appalled by regular people as they were of these creative post-Beat Generation highly creative acid heads.One more thing. There are many reasons why HST's journalism is vital and his writing right out of the 20th century's top drawer,. HST aficionados have been starved of new writing BY HST ever since he died in 2006, which isn't as paradoxical as it sounds...The project HST completed before he died, a last volume of collected letters, is still stalled in mysterious limbo all these years later, as if his own wishes and efforts to prepare that book counted for nothing as far as the HST Estate is concerned.And HST's legendary 1968 20,000-word piece on his ambivalence about the NRA and gun ownership, written after the assassination of RFK has still to see print with no hope in sight - - though Johnny Depp says it's as good as anything HST ever wrote.And excised chapters of F & L IN LAS VEGAS - - that Depp has read and rates as highly as the rest of the book - -have still never been published.Which makes you wonder what the HST Estate thinks its function actually IS, other than collecting royalties on existing publications. As I see it, Doug Brinkley and HST's widow ought to have their heads banged together by the ghost of Hunter Thompson and their feet nailed to a perch until they get the job done. Either that, or kicked off the team to let someone else handle the estate who has more respect for HST's literary achievement than to delay important publications for So Long that HST's generation - - the folk who read his works hot off the press and can most deeply relate to his life and times - - are dying off without the opportunity of reading his last works.Shame on the HST estate: No Excuse.So we are tempted to grab at anything HST-related by even two-bit scholars who rehash what we already know just to channel the great writing. But this time the merchandise is worthwhile. It was a fabulous film in 1998 and it's a fabulous 4K transfer in 2019 with some very interesting new Extras.

If you have ever indulged in any illicit behaviour whatsoever, welcome to your new favourite film..

Great Movie. I Have not watched the DVD yet.. But I will defo get around to doing so.

“Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” (Albert Camus).Hunter wrote a book here that is quite possibly a greater work of genius than he himself might have expected. This movie is all the more remarkable in that it is a rare example of one that does justice to the book.There are two levels on which this book operates: as a comedy, it is beyond compare. For anybody who has deliberately gone on an extended binge with no better reason than it seems like a cool idea, this (according to a good friend) truly captures the sheer insanity and hilarity of losing basic cognitive and motor skills in a public place, whilst on a quest to see just how much chaos can be set off in 48 hours. Both the spirit of headlong hedonism and its inevitable results are captured in unflinching technicolor ("I have a powerful lust for Red Salmon"), courtesy of Gilliam's inspired direction, photography and editing. Just for this, it is worth watching as a farce that descends even deeper into farce, when you thought it could descend no lower. However, bear in mind, this is no comedy scripted for laughs with gags or pranks: this is the comedy of absurdity.And for this it also operates on another level: in many senses, I think Hunter was fully aware of the fundamental absurdity of life and the utterly futile, yet instinctive response of hedonism to get "rid of the pain of being a man", through "a gross, physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of life in this country".In short, Hunter taps into the very essence of what it is to deliberately and purposefully not have a care in the world, to be free and to express that freedom in as many futile ways as possible. However, this is no "Ferris Bueller-on-Acid": there's too much chaos for that. No, his is in equal parts a dark, and hilarious vision of where this freedom leads (which is ultimately nowhere, but hey, its the journey, not the destination that counts here). He does not shrink from the dark side, nor shrinks from any opportunity for laughter, even (and mostly) at his own expense. In almost a reverse of Shakespearean tragedy, the non-stop hilarity is occasionally punctuated with moments of pathos: the reminder of the pain for which so many analgesics seem sometimes necessary. The reflections on the death of innocence; the tragic encounter with the waitress.Hunter himself was consulted in the making of this movie and, in the process, forged a deep friendship with Johnny Depp, who is utterly superb in his role as Raoul Duke. If you've read the book, Depp's delivery will add a new dimension to Thompson's wit. He is matched perfectly with Benicio as "one of God's own prototypes". His legal advice is just the sort you need for this kind of endeavour: "As your attorney, I advise you to rent a very fast car with no top". Gilliam, who is not always my cup of tea, finds his zenith as director here, a movie he was born to direct. His penchant for in-your-face close-up wide angle photography, irritating in many movies, finds its moment here. And while you're watching, see if you can find guest appearances from Penn (of Penn & Teller fame), Toby MacGuire, Flea (of Red Hot Chilli Peppers fame), Jenette Goldstein (aka Pvt. Vasquez from "Aliens") and even Hunter himself...as himself...looking at himself.For those who have never thrown all caution to the wind, this will be nothing more than a twisted and disgusting road movie, or at best, a study in debauchery. They will always find it hard to understand and may never succeed. But for those who have, in their own way, thrown themselves off the cliff of possibilities, or even just an extended, extreme intoxication session, this movie will feel very familiar and very, very funny.

1 of my favourite film's. Hunter S.Thompson's book, directed by Terry Gilliam and Johnny Depp gives a great performance. A Masterpiece.GONZO

Love the writing of Hunter S Thomspon & Terry Gilliam is a visionary, the film is very close to the book & both Depp & Benicio Del Toro are terrific. However, even with my love of all those elements, this movie is difficult to watch, the very idea of trying to make a film out of said book is pretty intense & you really do get what you would expect, just a crazy diabolical mess, but having said that it's all the more special because in this day of woke political correctness, brain dead remakes & talentless film making it at least has the balls to be honestly what it is, hence why it gets four stars. It's a piece of history from a time where film makers & actors took risks and writers had talent, angst & truth.