Lover, fighter, wild bull rider Ron (Matthew McConaughey), who likes washing down his cocaine with whiskey and cigarette fumes, discovers after a freak accident (he's also an electrician) that he has the HIV virus and not long to live - disappointed by the treatment legally available in U.S. hospitals, he goes rogue, taking a trip down to Mexico and finding a cocktail mixture that does work (which he then brings back into the country). The term "tour-de-force" is overused, but in this case it describes McConaughey's performance in the utmost sense - sure, he and transgender accomplice Rayon (Jared Leto) had to lose weight for their roles, but it's so much more than that: it's McConaughey dominating every scene he's in with a magnetism only hinted at in his earlier movies: he's an actor that has grown and matured and become even more dominant and unforgettable as time as passed. The story itself is efficient if familiar - it's an 'issue' movie at heart, with McConaughey learning to accept the LGBT community (embodied by flamboyant Leto) as well as trying to Fight Against the Powers That Be (meaning the behind-the-times Food and Drug Administration). Then moral, then, is don't have sex with intravenous drug users and never go gently into that good night.
