Tuesday 17 July 2012

Devouring Films: The Rum Diary

I'm going to be honest here and say that I've been underwhelmed by Johnny Depp films lately. I mean, a lot of the films he's been in have been distinctly underwhelming, but his performance is usually so awesome that I can overlook that; but lately I've just been kind of like... Meh. Admittedly, mostly I'm just thinking of The Tourist here (although even that was more fun than the critics seemed to believe it was) but Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was really the most dreadful thing... Just horrible. It was like they just thought up a load of 'hilarious' things for Jack Sparrow to do, and then wrote a terribly flimsy story around them. Honestly, just terrible.

Anyway, so the point is that I wasn't exactly expecting great things from The Rum Diary, but I wanted to watch it anyway because Johnnnnnnny! and, well, I was actually pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a perfect film, because it wasn't that, but it had its moments of fun and silliness and also a bit of seriousness, and it was extremely clear that everyone involved in making it was having an outrageously good time. And, well, you know what, I like to see Johnny clearly having a good time, and it's way preferable to his 'I'm being paid quite a lot of money for this so I'm going to just go through the motions' time (The Tourist. Seriously)

So, the film. Well, it's a bit... sort of scattered and mad, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. It wasn't as wonderfully mad as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (because nobody, but nobody, does that kind of crazy like Terry Gilliam) and so felt a bit unfocused and not quite sure if it wanted to go that far, or to retreat back a bit into the land of normal things, so there is a sense in which you're not sure what you're going to get from one scene to the next. I don't know if this is something that's symptomatic of the novel as well though (I tried to read it once, but I'm not sure if Hunter S Thompson is really my bag. Nonetheless, I will give it another try, and I'm reading Fear and Loathing this year for sure because I'm challengely obligated to) although if so, is that even a reason to excuse it? I just don't know!

Obviously this is entirely a Johnny Depp vehicle since I'm fairly sure he's the entire reason it was made, and because, you know, he's literally in every scene because I believe the book is basically a first person narrative- a young guy's journey through the crazy world of journalism. And he's really great in it. I mean, I basically say that about everything he's in, but like I say, here he's really relishing every moment, having a rollicking good time that he maybe hasn't been so obviously having since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (which was like the formative moment of my Johnny Depp loving/maybe even movie loving life) and, well, who wouldn't want to watch that? Moving on from Depp for juuust a moment, the guy who played Phoebe's brother in Friends is really really great as this basically insane alcoholic/whatever else he can get his hands on-aholic, and kind of truly creepy and hilarious at the same time. And Aaron Eckhart was also there, and he was ok- I kind of liked his character (and by liked, I obviously mean hated) more than I liked the way he played it, but that's ok. Still a good bad character!

Basically, I don't want to try and make The Rum Diary out to be any more than what it is, but what it happens to be is a really fun romp that, to be honest, doesn't try to be any more than what it is. And I'm ok with that, even if I still believe that there has to be this perfect combination of Depp-director-screenwriter that could make the absolute greatest film that the world has ever seen. But until that happens, I'm good with more films like this. I'll allow them to happen.

8 comments:

  1. I know I'll see this film eventually, but I'm really worried. You see HST IS my bag and I love The Rum Diary (the book), and every HST fan I've spoken to said that this film really destroyed the book.

    So I need to work up to it, and get as much of the book out of my mind as possible and try and forget that it's based on a book before I see it, otherwise I may find myself hating Johnny Depp, and I'd hate for that to happen!

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    1. Ah, this is a conundrum! See, I definitely still say it's pretty fun and by no means perfect etc etc, BUT it could completely destroy the book and that is never a good thing! (Unless you don't like the book, I guess.) So, yeah, don't see it if it's going to make you hate Johnny, cause JOHNNNYYYYYY!!! But if you can see it as totally separate from the book then that'll be good and you can watch it and maybe find it fun and a bit silly and stuff! :)

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    2. I think (I hope) I should be alright, I have faith that they couldn't really ruin the book although I do doubt they've kept the novel intact (they removed a primary character for the film and blended two others into one). In honesty I'm probably more worried that this could be the final nail in Johnny's coffin, because if I see one more sub-par or bad movie with him in it I just don't think I could get excited about him anymore. Which is sad, because JOHNNNNNY!

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  2. I'm kind of just...ok with Johnny Depp. Like, I can look at him and get his appeal, and I don't DISlike him, but I don't really get the being really into him thing. I saw Dark Shadows three times because Eva Green! Helena Bonham Carter! But I do trust him as an actor -- he's excellent at the acting thing.

    I haven't read anything by Hunter S. Thompson, soooo not sure I'd "get" this, but YAY MOVIE REVIEWS.

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    1. He is excellent at the acting thing! I mean, I've been obsessed with him for about 8 years or something, so... I'm totally into him. More than anyone else, ever, probably. But it's ok that you're not because all that means is that you've probably never seen Cry Baby :)

      I don't necessarily think there's anything to get, or there are maybe extra things to get that I didn't get either, but I think you can still like it without having read Thompson's stuff. Well, at least I thought so!

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    2. I saw like 45 minutes of Cry Baby, but haven't finished it.

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    3. You were physically able to stop watching?!

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  3. This is one of those movies that I want to see cos yay Depp and HST but then I end up sorta meh about it. So I guess I want to want to see it. So now this makes me want to see it more. It needs to be on TV soon.

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