Rum Diary, The (2011) [Blu-ray]
Comedy | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary, follows itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) on an alcohol-fueled journey across the pristine island of Puerto Rico. Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard) the wildly attractive fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), an American businessman involved in shady development deals. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessman's financial benefit or use them to take him down.

User Comment: joshroush-173-92443 from Anaheim, CA, 14 October 2011 • I'm a huge Hunter S Thompson fan, but I was feeling very weary of this film since it has been shelved for almost a year now. I attended the world premiere last night, and I can report with absolute sincerity that if you loved HST's work, this will not disappoint.

The one problem many die hard fans of the book may have is with the character of Sanderson. In the book Paul Kemp and Sanderson represent the dueling persona's of Hunter, one being a cutthroat athletic type, the other being the booze-hound anti-authoritarian. In this film, Johnny Depp plays more to the character being a young HST and combines the characteristics of both into Kemp. Some may have a problem with this, but the movie is stronger for it as you are only rooting for the protagonist while giving the story a strong antagonist, a necessity in filmmaking.

In my eyes, this is Bruce Robinson's best work on screen to date, Johnny Depp is absolutely awe-inspiringly believable as a very young and constrained Hunter, and the cast could not have been more dead on. I'll be seeing this several more times in the theaters in the coming months.

Summary: One king hell of a movie for HST fans.

User Comment: brookeb3393 from United States, 3 November 2011 • It's important to remember why this movie was made. It is for Hunter S. Thompson. That was really Johnny Depp's main focus. His goal is never to make the number one movie. He doesn't want to be a box office star. He wants to make movies that mean something to him and that is exactly what he did with The Rum Diary.

With that said, he made a beautiful film for his late friend. He played Hunter S. Thompson so wonderfully and stayed true to his character. Johnny honored his friend in the best way that he could, and did a phenomenal job in my opinion.

Aside from the film's purpose, if I had gone to see this with no knowledge of it's back story, I still would have enjoyed it. It was funnier than I was expecting and there was romance throughout. I was definitely interested the entire two hours. It is worth the price of a ticket because as usual, Johnny Depp delivered.

Summary: The Movie That Johnny Depp Intended It To Be.

[CSW] -2.6- This movie has some excellent actors, beautiful scenery, a detailed historical analysis of 1960's Puerto Rico, and yet I still found it to be an almost good movie. It was designed to be Johnny Depp's tribute to Hunter S. Thompson but not knowing Mr. Thompson, I never was able to develop a deep connection to the character. So this movie becomes a hit or miss movie. Either you will love it and think it's really funny or hate it and think it's stupid. It fell somewhere in the middle for me because I liked it and didn't like it. I think I would have enjoyed the non-blurred, non-alcoholic-stupor, non-drugged, story of the wide awake and focused writer that the lead later became. This turned out to be another based-on-a-true-story tale that doesn't quite make it to the top the hill for me.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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