Hal also sees Paul as a target for seduction, offering him a vaguely defined but apparently crucial role in his lucrative development scheme. Hal, a flack for the predatory, moneyed interests who want to despoil a pristine island, has a luxurious house on the beach, a sweet red sports car and a sexy fiancée named Chenault (Amber Heard) who seems to have eyes for Paul. His nemesis - every superhero needs one - is Hal Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), a great white sharpie who seems to possess everything Paul desires. “I haven’t figured out how to write as myself,” Paul says at one point, and as he chafes against the requirements of his job and the foul corruption of his environment, he is also undergoing the testing ordeal that will ultimately give him a voice and a vocation. This is not really “Fear and Loathing in Puerto Rico” but rather the literary equivalent of a superhero origin story, in that it supplies fans with the chronicle of how a more-or-less ordinary guy transformed himself into a beloved archetype. The two of them become Paul’s roommates and co-conspirators in a rambling adventure that pits them, somewhat woozily, against the editor of their newspaper (Richard Jenkins) and a cabal of neocolonialist real estate developers. These include a burly, shaggy photographer named Bob Sala (Michael Rispoli) and a filthy, booze-addled wraith known as Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi). Kemp is, at least at first glance, a more conventional fellow, arriving at his new job at an English-language San Juan daily, in the grip of a serious hangover but otherwise more presentable than some of his colleagues. Depp impersonated Thompson in his full Gonzo glory, with Hawaiian-print shirts draped over his torso and wild hallucinations sprouting from his balding pate.

This makes the new film a prequel of sorts to Terry Gilliam’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998), in which Mr.

Thompson’s alter ego, a young writer named Paul Kemp, is played by Johnny Depp. Connoisseurs of straw hats and cool sunglasses will find much to savor, as will aficionados of guilt-free cigarette smoking and midday boozing.Ī mild lark disguised as a wild bender, “The Rum Diary” is also a touching tribute to Thompson himself, who committed suicide in 2005. Thompson, will appeal to anyone who harbors romantic ideas about liquor, newspaper journalism or that mythical late-Eisenhower, early-Kennedy “Mad Men” time when the ’60s were getting ready to happen. “The Rum Diary,” directed by Bruce Robinson ( “Withnail and I”) and based on an early novel of the same title by Hunter S.

The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson