DVD view: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas/Where the Buffalo Roam Box Set (18.

Byline: WITH MIKE CHAPPLE

THERE was an inevitability about the suicide of Hunter S Thompson. A constant diet of Chivas Regal, Colombian marching powder and playing with guns could only have one result when you have a paranoidman in dotage reflecting on his better years as the founder of Gonzo journalism. Gonzo, for the uninitiated, was all about ingesting as manymind altering substances as possible and seeing what came out the other end in terms of written material. When he was younger, Thompson could carry it off with both disturbing and hilarious insights into the American dream. Later the poisonous fuels that fired these musings took their toll. Whatever. These films are a supposed celebration of his hazier, crazier years with Johnny Depp and Bill Murray respectively over-acting like mad playing the self styled doctor of journalism on assignment. The problem is that, whereas Thompson's escapades on paper were not only an accurate reflection of life in the new Roman empire and often very funny to boot, neither of these qualities are reflected in the films themselves. At one stage early on in Buffalo, Murray as a drugs inspired Thompson, declares: "It could be the best story I've ever done - all I've gotta do is write it." Which says it in nutshell. FILMS: .. EXTRAS