Fear and Loathing in Aspen

If you like HST, you'll love this. It's no hallucinogenic road trip like fear and loathing in Las Vegas but serves as a prequel to it in the sense that you see a younger, unknown HST beginning his career.

Jay Bulger does a very, very good HST. Where Johnny Depp set the bar extremely high in F&LILV it's still very hard not to wish he was playing HST in this, albeit the JD at the age of the 1998 film.

Check out the trailer to get a really good gist of the film, then pour a whisky and then buy the ticket and take the ride!

A well researched and written portrayal of actual events , many liberties were taken to enhance the story to keep it moving . Screenplay was enjoyable comes across entertaining without going overboard with the " Raul Duke " character but keeps true to Hunter S Thompson " the man " . Cinematography , Editing and Set Locations all were enjoyable , as a fan of this era of Thompson I would recommend. For someone with no background or references, it could be lost . Jay Bulger plays Thompson with a beautiful charisma that at times had me lost wondering if I was watching a documentary or scripted cinema.

While this movie might not take a serious look on the time period of which Hunter S. Thompson ran for sheriff in Aspen but I still had quite a fun time watching this movie. While the acting isn't great in this movie I wouldn't call it bad acting, it's pretty average and I have seen a lot worse, and while Jay Bulger's take in HST isn't my favorite his performance did grow on me and it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the movie. I think my biggest issue with this movie is how some of the characters were written, specifically with the characters opposing Hunter, some of the characters were ok but some of them felt and acted like the people who were trying to prove that the Ghostbusters were fakes. Other than that I don't see much reason to not watch this movie if you get the chance. If you want a more serious and factual look on this part of Hunter's life I recommend a documentary called "Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb". But overall I do recommend this movie, especially if you're a fan of Hunter S. Thompson. While I don't think its better, I also don't think this movie is much worse than "Where the Buffalo Roam". I may be bias towards this movie but why not just watch the movie it's not gonna hurt ya.

Though most will probably know the name "Hunter S Thompson" for his wilder exploits chronicled in the book and film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" , this movie focuses on some of his more constructive efforts, namely his bid to become Sheriff of the rural town of Aspen in 1970. Humourous japes such as pcp laced cigarettes and roller skating activists are placed alongside more serious themes such as industrial pollution, police harassment, and, inevitably, the war in Vietnam. It all rolls along quite nicely but in the end, the film just doesn't quite go in hard enough. Ironically, leaning into the nastier side of Hunter's legend ( or indeed the darker side of American society at the time) might have given the film the extra bit of tension and pizazz needed to lift it from good to great. Instead, it spends far too much time labouring it's central point, which is that the hippies had some good ideas underneath the craziness, they just needed to get out and vote. I've no idea how succinct this analysis is, I just resented being beaten over the head with it quite so much. Still , this film is an above average watch.

I really loved Fear And Loathing In Vegas, where Johnny Depp did a remarkable job playing Hunter S. Thompson. That movie can not be compared to this one though as Fear And Loathing In Aspen is more biographical than pure entertainment. Jay Bulger also did a very good job playing Hunter S. Thompson. That's the best thing about this movie. The story is also interesting to follow. I just wished the quality of the cinematography would have been better. That was in my humble opinion the weakest point of this movie. Plus some actors were just not that good either. That said it's worth a watch but I don't really need to watch it again. Fear And Loathing In Vegas on the other hand I can rewatch several times.