Maplecrest Trailer Home

It’s not often that one sees a straight up biography/portrait documentary these days, let alone one that garners a theatrical release. It’s even less often that one sees such an A&E-esque spectacle that is aimed primarily at an audience blazed out of their minds. I think the trailer-makers came to terms with a sad, indicative truth of the day – Hunter S. Thompson’s current legacy often extends no farther than does syncing Dark Side Of The Moon with The Wizard of Oz. Though they threw in a thing there about “The Nightmares of Today”, this trailer no more intends to expand on that theme than it intends to linger a moment on describing his journalism to any non-fans, or talk about how he got where he got. Come on, trailer! Make us believe there’s some spin! Everyone who likes his personality and is apt to see it displayed will see the movie anyway, so come on trailer, pull in a new crowd! It’s your God-given duty.

Sir Thompson, with his love for things that go bang, renders the approach of the trailer even more difficult to discern. Here is what I see when I see this trailer: Motorcycle! Johnny Depp! Booze! Gun! Wallpaper (such wallpaper!!)! Hair! Fear and Loathing! Drugs! Crises! Guns! Rebel! Riots! Patriot! Nixon..Bush..War..Fireworks! It’s almost impossible to decide whether this is an attempt to capture as many antsy youngsters as possible with as many shenanigans as can fit in 2 1/2 minutes, or an earnest try at displaying the documentary topic. I veer towards the former because of Johnny Depp in the beginning – wouldn’t life be so much better if we scrapped showing off Depp and started with the quote about The Edge? – watch again, leaving out the first 5 seconds. ahh. isn’t it wonderful?

I give them demerits for the needless one-word “edgy font” title pages and for abandoning a good montage about his writing so as to mention Fear & Loathing and Gun Enthusiasm (is that the term?). Even if these things were his bread & butter, and contribute to his unconventional idol status, stressing that angle is as tired and common as exclaiming that “Money” starts as Dorothy heads down the yellow brick road.  Be that as it may, once one gets past the fact that this movie is not portrayed as anything deeper than a snapshot (whether that’s the case – your guess is as good as mine), it’s easy to take the trailer at face-value and acknowledge that it’s a well deserved snapshot of one of the strangest overachievers our century has ever seen, a personality worth digging up silly footage and intense political interviewees. So let’s just stop calling him “The Late Hunter S. Thompson”, movie summaries, please, read a few of his beratings of Nixon, and acknowledge that he was right on time, whether or not we’re willing to shell over 10 dollars to hear about it.

Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of the rat race is not yet final. -Hunter S. Thompson

Hey, fine by me, sounds wonderful, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s Friday night and I’m flat-broke and out of drugs… -A commenter on the “Gonzo” IMDB page