The film really proves only that Jim was a bad drunk and a worse friend, and that in no way was his life exemplary.
The Doors (1991)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 43
Fresh: 24
Rotten:19
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Runtime: 3 hrs 21 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Covers the period from 1965-1971; Produced and released in 1991. Val Kilmer stars as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's electrifying profile of the Doors, which takes the group from its inception to... Covers the period from 1965-1971; Produced and released in 1991. Val Kilmer stars as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's electrifying profile of the Doors, which takes the group from its inception to its demise with the death of the "Lizard King" in a Paris hotel room in 1971. In the early days of the group's formation, Morrison is at his most benign; he's just a guy hanging out at the beach writing poetry. But soon the Doors' fame begins to spread--with Morrison as the focus of attention. Capable of an eerily correct vocal imitation of Morrison, Kilmer makes manifest the talent and charisma, as well as the confusion and despair, of the complex man who was the focal point of the group. As Morrisson's drug consumption and erratic behavior increase exponentially, the rest of the band--Ray Manzarek (Kyle McLachalan), John Densmore (Kevin Dillon), and Robby Krieger (Frank Whaley)--begins to grow tired of his late arrivals, the increasing number of cancellations, and the drunken recording sessions requiring infinite retakes. But no one can help Morrison as he spirals downward into an inferno of drugs, alcohol, public obscenity, and depression, bringing the music to an untimely close. Stone's intimate familiarity with SoCal in the 1960s provides the film with a high degree of surface verisimilitude, though the film is as much a tribute to the enduring power of the Doors' music as it is a cautionary tale about the perils of both celebrity and substance abuse. [More]
Starring: Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley
Starring: Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley, Michael Madsen, Billy Idol, Kathleen Quinlan, Kevin Dillon, Mimi Rogers, Michael Wincott
Director: Oliver Stone
Director: Oliver Stone
Screenwriter: Oliver Stone, Randall Jahnson
Producer: A. Kitman Ho, Bill Graham, Sasha Harari
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Reviews for The Doors
Not exactly Stone's finest hour, but a worthwhile portrait of 1960s (counter) culture and the self-destruction of an icon.
Kilmer is convincing in the lead role, although he never allows the viewer to share any emotions.
By recreating things too well, the film itself becomes as boring, indulgent and over-stuffed as its hero.
The movie does a pretty good job with period ambience. But it's a long haul waiting for the hero to keel over.
Val Kilmer gives an amazing, almost pathologically correct performance in Oliver Stone's excessive but highly enjoyable biopic about Jim Morrison.
The Doors plays out like an epic hangover one expects to never recover from.
Stone sometimes loads the narrative with too much sub-Freudian baggage about Morrison's childhood, but the music, the excess and the excitement come across well.
As great a Jim Morrison as Val Kilmer may be, Stone's hallucinagenic excess becomes dull swiftly
Stone's film is a lengthy, appropriately trippy, drama chronicling the sudden rise of the band, The Doors, and how their lead singer Jim Morrison (a terrific Val Kilmer) was instantly recognized for his eccentricity and god-like presence
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