Review of The Doors (1991) by Jay L — 08 Sep 2011

"I believe in a long, prolonged derangement of the senses to obtain the unknown.".

~Jim Morrison~.

A psychadelic and visually dazzling trip through the mind of one of the most original and hardcore rock stars to ever walk the planet. Director Oliver Stone's (Wall Street, Platoon, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) Jim Morrison biopic is an exercise in excessiveness, but really is a blast for the eyes and especially the ears. The Doors is jam-packed with Stone's flashy visual trademarks, fast paced direction and endlessly cool style. A tribute to one of the most popular counter-culture rock bands to ever grace the American cities, and Stone pretty much nails it. The music is dynamite with many of The Doors best songs playing throughout including "Light My Fire" and "Riders on The Storm". It's one of the absolute best rock and roll biopics ever made, this film is quite unflinching in showing what kind of man Jim Morrison was and the life that he led. Sex, drugs, women and rock n' roll, this was the life of Jim Morrison, a true icon in American music. An intense two and a half hours of mind-blowing musical madness that was just a hell of a good time to sit through. Jim Morrison embodied what the counter-culture community stood for in the 60's, he was a deeply spiritual but ultimately quite troubled musician that lost control of his life many times. The Doors is definately one to check out, hell Oliver Stone never seems to disappoint and this is just another great film to add to his spectacular resume.

Val Kilmer stars as Jim Morrison and gives the performance of his career in my opinion, it was also thought by many to be 1991's best performance. I agree, Kilmer gives a searingly exceptional performance as the troubled musician and is almost flawlessly convincing throughout. Meg Ryan is great throughout as well with appearances from many others including Kevin Dillon, Billy Idol, Michael Madsen and Michael Wincott.