Movie Review - 'Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson'

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Featuring Hunter S. Thompson, Jimmy Carter, and Johnny Depp Directed by Alex Gibney Rated R

Hunter S. Thompson was a great writer who became famous, although you couldn't exactly say he was famous because he was a great writer. Nor could you say he remained famous because of his writing.Like Truman Capote - and surely, only in this way and as it relates to self-medication - Thompson's celebrity and notoriety overshadowed his craft, which after a certain point had started to deteriorate and nearly vanish.The documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson traces the trail of Thompson's unique place in the 20th century through mountains of his own archival footage, and not all of it is very flattering. But that may be beside the point. In reality, not even all of Thompson's fans are as familiar with his writing as they are the reputation that precedes him, so in that respect, this movie does exactly what a lot of fans would hope it would.There are remembrances from Jimmys Carter and Buffett, Pat Buchanan, Tom Wolfe, and many others. Johnny Depp narrates and reads some of Thompson's writings. And the impact of it all is that this is less of a documentary, which has as its purpose a non-fictional approach to its subject, and more of a tribute, which remembers things as we want them to be remembered. And that sort of thing has its place, too, I suppose, but Gonzo is directed by Alex Gibney, whose previous efforts include Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. If there is a documentary here, Gibney's the guy to make it. But he chooses to be fond of his subject instead, almost condoning Thompson's often wild and erratic behavior instead of truly investigating its purpose or greater meaning. Still, Gibney knows the craft of making a film, and his is an entertaining one that just doesn't go the distance. So you'll probably enjoy what you see and unless you were hoping to find out more, it may not bother you all that much. But there's so much about the man, the sadness, the sudden invisibility of his former greatness after the mid-1970s, the long-predicted suicide, that just makes you wonder what other movie is in here.