Fans of Hunter S. Thompson will recognise this as a personal project for Johnny Depp. Fans of ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ will expect another 2 hour drug-fueled, hallucinogenic ride. The Rum Diary is a different book, written much earlier in Thompson’s career and much earlier in his obsession with the American Dream. A time when he still held some hope. Soon after he wrote The Rum Diary he started to write politically and lost the small amount of nostalgia he held. The film offers a glimpse of Thompson before he became the cult classic character.
After moving to San Juan, Puerto Rico to work at a local newspaper, journalist Paul Kemp (Depp) finds himself caught up in a love triangle and a political upheaval. The newspaper is going under when Kemp is offered a sideline job from a business man named Sanderson (Eckhart). Sanderson has a beautiful girlfriend, Chenault (Amber Heard). Living in Puerto Rico in the 1950s Kemp quickly develops a taste for rum, and Chenault.
The cinematography and the filming location coupled with Depp’s narration and the book’s setting give The Rum Diary a film noir style. Written prior to Fear and Loathing, The Rum Diary is most definitely recognisable as a Hunter Thompson invention. Although it lacks the confusion and grit of it’s successor, it has a good balance of Depp’s romanticism and Thompson’s cynicism leaving an enjoyable 2 hours for any Thompson fan. And there are still plenty of drug-fueled, hallucinogenic scenes.
Trish Keenan
