The author of this review grew up in a world that was still feeling aftershocks from the great social and cultural turmoil of 1960s. I noticed glimpses of that through graffiti on the walls, which were almost exclusively related to music and featured some sort of rivalry between those who embraced punk and those who embraced heavy metal. One of the favourite bands among the latter was The Doors, group that in many ways embodied everything associated with rock music in late 1960s and had unfathomable influence not only on music but other aspects of popular culture, including cinema. In 1991 the band became subject of spectacular biopic directed by Oliver Stone.
The protagonist of the film, played by Val Kilmer, is Jim Morrison, poet and singer. The plot begins with prologue set in 1949 New Mexico where young Morrison witnesses terrible car accident and sees dying Navaho man (played by Floyd Red Crow Westerman) whose ghost would haunt him for the rest of the life and create his own obsession of death. In 1965 lives in Venice Beach, California and attends film school at UCLA where he would meet Ray Manzarek (played by Kyle MacLachlan), keyboard player who shares his interest in psychedelia. He also meets and falls in love with Pamela Courson (played by Meg Ryan), beautiful girl who would become his muse. Morrison and Manzarek. Together with Robby Krieger (played by Frank Whalley) and John Densmore (played by Kevin Dillon) they form a band called The Doors. Innovative style of music and Morrison’s rich lyrics quickly win fans and after the stint at popular Los Angeles club Whiskey-a-Go-Go the band signs contract with Elektra Records and soon gains global popularity, with Morrison, who calls himself “Lizard King”, becoming one of the icons of his generation. Fame and success, however, begin to affect him negatively, leading him to take larger amounts of drugs and alcohol. That ultimately begins to affect not only relation with Pamela and his other girlfriend, witchcraft-practising journalist Patricia Kennealy (played by Kathleen Quinlan), but also his work and relations with other bandmates. After a disastrous concert in Miami, Morrison goes to Paris where he would meet death in the bathtub after reaching 27 years of age.
For director and co-writer Oliver Stone, this film was very personal and, like many in his career, inspired by his own experiences in Vietnam War. Stone first heard music of The Doors while serving in Vietnam and became life-long fan, trying for years to express his admiration through feature film. Opportunity finally arose following his triumph with Platoon. Stone, who briefly appears in the film as film school professor, was given large budget but also invested a lot of passion in the project. The Doors in many ways epitomises all the best and all the worst traits of Oliver Stone as film maker. On one hand, there is an enormous talent, best seen in ability to handle mass scenes and reconstruct the period to the finest details, with music of The Doors blending almost perfectly with the images. On the other hand, Stone often succumbs to pretentiousness and fills the film with too much symbolic imagery that would confuse the viewers and too much excess in life of protagonist that would look a tad exploitative.
The main flaw of the film is that is almost entirely concentrated on iconic Morrison while all but ignoring all other members of the band, with possible exception of Manzarek who, played by Kyle MacLachlan in one of his better supporting roles, functions as cool-headed contrast to Morrison and his rock star antics. Script by Stone and Randal Jahnson also approaches Morrison in ways that are both simplistic and exploitative, by emphasising both his death obsession and irresponsible and auto-destructive lifestyle that makes his character obnoxious in the second part of the film. What ultimately rescues this film and elevates it over mediocrity is brilliant performance by Val Kilmer. He not only perfectly embodied Morrison by reaching almost frightening physical resemblance to the late rock icon, but also by learning to sing like him and actually using his own voice in many spectacular concert scene. Kilmer’s work was so impressive that it won hearts and minds of surviving members of The Doors that were otherwise unhappy with the Stone’s depiction of their band. He easily overshadowed all other members of the cast, including Meg Ryan in underwritten and thankless role in which she briefly appears nude, although less than Kathleen Quinlan. Some supporting cast leave good impression even in really small roles, like Crispin Glover who perfectly embodies iconic Andy Warhol. Excellent music, meticulous period reconstruction, impressive imagery and Val Kilmer evens out the flaws in plot and characterisation. Because of that The Doors can be recommended even to the viewers who aren’t biggest fans of the band. The film gives good insight into short but exciting moments in life of generation that, for better and worse, shaped and continues to shape the world we live in.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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