The Doors

source: The Doors

The Doors

Probably no music biopic has ever done a greater job looking into its subject than "The Doors". Focusing mainly on Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer), we get to see his masterful ability to write songs, but also his demons and his descent into complete madness. Jim Morrison was a genius and a nut. The movie never makes the mistake of becoming a litany of songs: it looks at the historical context, with the Vietnam War and everything else that made up the '60s. Val Kilmer does an incredible job playing Jim Morrison, and Meg Ryan is equally good as his girlfriend Pamela. Believe you me, there will never be another Jim Morrison. When he died in 1971, that really was the end. When I went to Paris in 1994, I went to Pere Lachaise and saw Jim Morrison's grave. There are signs pointing to it.

The Doors, or more appropriately, Jim Morrison: The Movie, is about Jim Morrison's short, but influential life from his failed film career to the band The Doors, to his untimely death. I'm not quite sure what this movie was trying to say about Morrison and the band. If it was saying that Jim was anything but a crazy drug addict, then it failed, because that's the only side we see of him here. Occasionally, Stone lets us see his poetic side, but very rarely, and when it does show it's because he's tripping on acid. There's no emotional connections to any character, except maybe Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson, but not much for her either. So, with no emotion and no character development, what we have is the outline of what happened with The Doors, and a lot of Val Kilmer imitating Jim Morrison's singing. Everything about this was not all bad. The acting is quite good. Val Kilmer was very believable playing the hard rocker who didn't care for anyone else's opinions. Meg Ryan was good as his struggling girlfriend. Kathleen Quinlin is very good as his critic sex mate. Even Kyle McLaughlan was good as the keyboard player Ray Manzerack. Along with being a good actor, McLaughlan also had the best character, an advocate of Morrison's work, but also a sense of reason that was never listened to. Frank Whaley and Kevin Dillon play the other two band members in small thankless roles. The direction starts off pretty cool, but by the end turns into a major headache. Stone constantly uses blue and red lenses on the camera, no matter what the scene, so instead of being used to symbolize sadness, or anger, they're just there to look cool. A lot of odd zoom ins and strange camera angles are used, and again, they start pretty neat, but after you realize Oliver Stone is just throwing them about for no reason, they get tiring. This whole movie can be compared to his later film "Natural Born Killers". They both have uncaring character, a weird style that get's to be a huge headache, and an ending making us think "Why should we care?" It's really hard to tell why this film was made. Obviously because Oliver Stone wanted to make a film on this popular band, but to show what? Was it to show how influential Morrison was? Because it showed he was influential to some people, but that was because of his crazy music, not himself personally. Was this meant as an homage to the band? Because it actually made the band look bad, and if this is why it was made, then it was an even bigger failed attempt then this movie was. Or was this made because Oliver Stone liked the music and just wanted to make a movie? Probably. This had no purpose or reason to be made, except maybe to turn people on to the music, and even that didn't work for me. My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 135 mins. R for sexuality, language, drug use and violence.

My Rating: **1/2 out of ****. One thing you can say about Oliver Stones The Doors is that Stone has no intention of forcing the audience to like the main character. Stone spends almost the entire 138 minutes making Jim Morrison into the biggest asshole that he possibly can. Really, when I first rented this film I had no idea what to expect since Oliver Stone is sort of hit-or-miss with me. I can honestly say the film held my attention completely but at the end I was unsatisfied with what I had seen. The remaining members of The Doors have criticized this film saying that it only portrayed one side of Morrison and that some of the actions in the film were far worse than anything he ever did (throwing the TV in the studio for instance). To be honest, I felt exactly the same way. By the end I was like, "There has to be more to this man than this!!!!"." I know Morrison had drinking and drug problems, and thats on full display. Stone makes clear that we see the flaws of Morrison and pretty much nothing else. If Stone wanted to make a film that showed the dark side of a rock star than he accomplished his goal admirably. But the film is just too disappointingly shallow. Morrison was supposedly a very shy front-man at first which we actually do see in the beginning when he sings with his back turned toward the audience. It's a shame Stone didn't explore this "shy, intelligent" man that the Doors always talk about instead of the sadistic asshole on display here. If Stone had made Morrison into a more well-rounded character than this could have been a great film. What cannot be criticized about the film is Val Kilmer's electrifying performance. Forget the small little flaws like Kilmer is six inches taller than Morrison was and that Kilmers face is a little fatter than Morrisons and just watch this magnificent piece of acting. I have never been that impressed with Val Kilmer's acting ability before I saw this film so seeing him in this was a mindblowing experience. He completely inhabits Morrison and its hard to believe he was actually the second choice for the role. This will undoubtedly be a career best for Kilmer and it is a damn shame he didn't at least get an Oscar Nomination. The supporting cast is also impressive, particularly Meg Ryan. Ryan excels much more in lighter roles but here she dos a very good job as Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson. Kevin Dillon, Kyle MacLachlan, and Frank Whaley do the best they can with limited screen time as the remaining members of The Doors. Stone's films have always been uneven when it comes to visual styles. In such films as Natural Born Killers, Any Given Sunday, and to some extent, Nixon, they have been exercises of cinematic * with hyper editing and completely unnecessary film stock switches. Fortunately, thats not the case here as the film has a more straightforward look that complements the film well instead of distracting us. Stone can make a compelling film and The Doors is never boring. It has a lot of good points: a tremendous lead performance, impressive supporting work, effective cinematography, and a great soundtrack. Its a shame that the film is hampered by a shallow script. If the script were better it is quite possible The Doors could have been a great film. As it stands, its a compelling, though definitely disappointing film.

Val Kilmer did a great job portraying Jim Morrison. He brings you into the spiraling life of Jim Morrison and back to the days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Throughout the movie you see what made Jim Morrison tick, and get to hear some great music along the way. The cinematography during his drug induced hallucinations is well done and helps pull you into Morrison;s life. Definitely a movie you can sit and watch more than once and one you can enjoy whatever age you are. Whether you were a dedicated Mossison fan or have never followed him, this movie is entertaining on it's face. The fact that the movie portrays the real life of a rock and roll legend, makes the movie that much more interesting.

I cannot put into words just how appalling this film is from the point of view of a lifelong Jim Morrison/Doors fan. Firstly, after seeing the movie in full (I walked out of the cinema the first time I went to see it), I amazed as to how Ray M and John D had gotten involved in the movie when they themselves could see how fictional it was. But then again, Ray and John were always Judas's to Jim in life so why not in death....even their versions of history have been bent to paint themselves in a less heartless light in my opinion. Val Kilmer...what can I say. The man is wooden at the best of times and he was diabolical as Jim. If you have to make a movie then Jason Patric would have made a FANTASTIC Jim. Oliver Stone, known for portraying history in Stoneworld Vision, came at this subject from a sensational and almost entirely incorrect angle. As someone who knows a hell of a lot about the history of The Doors I can categorically say that 80% of this film was fiction, 15% was a grossly distorted version of true events and the other 5% was to some extent true. I also hate the way Stone makes composites of characters. I think this could be justified by some people if it was actually a good film anyway but it just wasnt. I never felt for a second I was in the 60's, terrible wigs/false beards, the wardrobe was consistently poor, the script was dire, terrible casting (in particular Kevin Dillon, Meg Ryan, Val Kilmer and what the hell was Billy Idol there for?) and the overall feel of the movie was all wrong. However, Stone did pull some nice shots off from a cinematography point of view and there were some good choices of location. The score was obviously good (except when Val tried to sing) but that was to be expected surely. He got the characters wrong, he got history TOTALLY wrong and he tried to ruin the memory of an intelligent man. He was only ever going to film Jim as The Lizard King but he didn't even get that bit right; Doors fans should know what I mean by that. I hate this movie passionatly and could tolerate it if I thought it would help gain new fans of the music but I don't think it does. If you want the real Jim Morrison/Doors then your best bet is to go read a book like Angels Dance and Angels Die or No-One Here Gets Out Alive (as flawed as that is). Jim had a sense of humour but I bet it would be sorely tested by this pretentious, self serviant piece of fiction that dares to claim it is a rock documentary. I can only hope that when Stone meets Morrison in the next world Jim isn't too drunk to knock him out.

First off, The Doors are my favorite band. EVER. No one can match up to their revolutionary style, their originality, or the music. They are truly THE GREATEST AMERICAN BAND. And one of the most influential bands. EVER. Also one of the most controversial bands. Those are just some of the reasons why The Doors are my fav. Anyway...the Oliver Stone film is good, but not a spectacular piece of work. I did enjoy watching it and would also recommend it. If you never listened to The Doors or aren't really into them then I think this flick will get you interested in the band and their music. But for the most part the movie seems to focus too much on Morrison and in some parts when it does, it seems fake. For example, when Jim is talking or arguing with his girl he is always taking a line from one of his songs and/or from his poems. If you listened to the music before then you would know what I mean. It seems Stone didn't know what to write so he just borrowed some lines from a song/poem and put them in the script. And the preformance by Kilmer is very good, but not great. It seems as if he's trying too hard to become him and when he does he seems to go overboard. But as a movie this is good. As a biography about Jim Morrison this is mediocre. Even the fellow members of The Doors say Morrison isn't portrayed 100%, saying that the movie just portrayed the bad, drunk, disgusting Morrison and never really showed the good humored, shy, sensitive Morrison. Well, at least there's still the music.

This film is truly a gem. The Doors is easily the best film of the rock n' roll genre and at least one of the most important films of its era. Though I am not an Oliver Stone fan I must give credit where it is due. Stone really does a terrific job with this film, and shows what he is capable of when he actually knows about the subject he is attempting to comment on. A few of the scenes in the film are almost exact recreations of actual events. However, the magnificent thing about this film is that it manages to recreate a certain amount of reality while simultaneously realizing that for a film to possess its own vitality it must transcend the preexisting reality, move beyond the surface, beyond everything that is obvious, and express and explore something deeper. Val Kilmer delivers a powerful performance in which he almost seems to be channeling the energy of Jim Morrison, and though I've seen many of Meg Ryan's films this is the only one I can recollect where she does such a good job that she makes you really forget about her and focus on the character. The cinematography of the film by Robert Richardson (Platoon, Wall Street, Born on The Fourth of July, Natural Born Killers, Casino, Bringing out the Dead, and many more) is bold and unique making the film one of the most distinct visual films I've ever seen. This film is truly one of a kind, and breaks through into new cinematic territory, giving priority to the visual aspects of the film in an era where there are so few films that even give much consideration to the single most important aspect of the motion picture. The genius of this film is that it is visual-audio as opposed to audio-visual and is more concerned with expressing something than simply impressing the audience. The Doors is a refreshing cinematic breakthrough in an era in which cinema seems all but forgotten.

Rather foolish chronicle of psychedelic hard rock band The Doors, whose lead singer/poet laureate, Jim Morrison, caused quite a stir in the shockable 1960's. Director/co-writer Oliver Stone pines hard for the appropriate atmosphere, but his dialogue is ridiculous and the overall presentation is arty and alienating. Val Kilmer bears a striking resemblance to Morrison, but is unable to "break on through to the other side" of Stone's plastic din. Supporting performances are mostly strong, save for Meg Ryan looking lost in an unplayable part as Morrison's dippy spouse. ** from ****