By Sam Turner
Johnny Depp reprises his role as lead in an adaptation of Hunter S Thompson novel following 1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In The Rum Diary the focus shifts from narcotics (although drugs are of course involved) to politics and alcohol.
The Rum Diary takes place in Puerto Rico where journalist Kemp (Depp) has landed a job for the island’s American newspaper. Chaos ensues when the hapless hack befriends two equally heavy drinking ex-pats, descends further into alcoholism and gets embroiled in a shady island resort development. Writer and Director Bruce Robinson channels Thompson’s anarchic style into a wonderfully frenetic adventure which takes our heroes from one drunken night out to the next whilst developing a thought-provoking and amusing plot.
Echoes of Robinson’s classic Withnail and I are present throughout from feckless Moburg’s tatty mac to a cacophony of quoteable lines (“Do not confuse love with lust, nor drunkenness with judgment”). There are some truly memorable scenes such as Kemp and sidekick Sala trying to drive a car with no front seat and not get pulled over by the policeman whose face they had set fire to the night before. The love story with the lovely Amber Heard drives the plot and our hero deeper into the scandalous plans of Aaron Eckhart’s dastardly Sanderson to buy an Island for only the rich to enjoy. This brings about much contemplation and rage for Thompson’s mouthpiece Kemp and gives the film some intellectual weight along with generating much hilarity.
Robinson and BFF Depp have done Thompson, ‘enemy of bastards’, a proud service here whilst adding to their own impressive canons. Watch the film, learn the quotes and feel the rage.
Kryztoff Rating 4K
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