"a far out trip with the lizard king, but..."

Rating: 6/10 (18 October 2003)

by Dane Youssef
"Ray Manzarek turned down Stone's many requests to help in the movie. Manzarek has since said that the movie is a horrible account of the history of the band." --FROM IMDb trivia
Gee, I wish he had participated.
Stone's "The Doors" is a film that loves "the lizard king's" stage presence. And the poetic and haunting music he left behind.
Stone weaves magnificent unworldly music with mind-blowing visuals, joining the sound and look of two worlds together. We see what the inside of Morrison must've really been like.
But seems to have little to no interest in who the rest of "The Doors" really were.
There is a moment in this film where Morrison is mugging into the camera, making sexy, seductive smiles, cute little pouts and angry-tiger faces for a photographer. Morrison is a Greek sex god as well as a rock god.
The photographer tells him: "You don't need those guys. YOU'RE the talent. You're the one they want. YOU ARE the doors."
She's not the only one who thinks so. A manager who sees them performing at a club says the same thing, offering Morrison a gig if he drops those "others." HE'S THE TALENT, he tells Morrison.
Many agree with this, apparently and especially Oliver Stone himself, who focuses ENTIRELY about Morrison at his best (and worst) and makes every sequence is this movie a drugged-out trip into the lizard-king's idol status and pin-up persona.
The problem--that's ALL this movie seems to be about.
Stone may have misnamed this film "The Doors." Perhaps he should have named it "This Is The End: Life & Fast-Times of Jim Morrison." Morrison was dead by 27, thanks to all the hard work, talent and success to get him there.
Morrison truly is the entire focus of Stone's film, perhaps because he was the true mastermind behind it all. Perhaps Morrison truly was "The Doors."
The rest of the band's stories--from THEIR point of view. What were they about? The movie seems to be made by someone who loved the music and hated the man. Despised him. By the time Morrison moves on to harder drugs, he has gone from a sensitive soulful poet to a raving and destructive monster.
The drugs'll do that, you know.
Morrison was actually a sweet, deep, thoughtful and sensitive man. Not to mention very shy and humble. But his art wasn't really much until he started using drugs to fuel his creative fires. Like Hendrix, Cobin, Joplin, the narcotics gave him musical genius and inspiration.
Himself, especially. He hurts his girlfriend every way he can, he infuriates the other members of the band, he misses rehearsals and performances (well, actually, sometimes he shows up late).
If you've ever seen a backstage band biopic, you know how everything will play out. Passionate, talented kids meet, unique, fresh and with big ideas, the group comes together, they make it big, the seduction of the fame, the money, the power, the sex... and they undo themselves until they're sitting in a pool of their own filth and sick in a state of depression and anger.
Well actually, once again, in this case, that's just Morrison. Most of the band just backs him up and just gets angrier and angrier by his steady stream of destruction. He inhales every drug and woman he can and starts to harm everyone who crosses his path, including himself, so he can "break on through to the other side."
Effective, but I wish Stone had taken the focus off this for just a little while.
I would have liked some digging into the rest of the band--the history, the bonding, the feelings there. Who they all were. He doesn't even scratch the surface there.
The best of this, I suppose, is when Morrison takes his girlfriend and the band on a peyote-fulled trip out to the desert. They bond over fantasies and nightmares, planning the future---and unraveling. What's going to happen to them?
Val Kilmer gives perhaps the best performance of his life. He looks like Morrison, as well as sings just like him (rumor had it the real-life band could not tell the difference between Morrison and Kilmer's vocals). He also prances around the stage with as much perverse, energy, fire and gusto as Morrison ever did. He's larger and bigger than life. He captures all the little things about Morrison, as well as the big ones. He has his soul. He does not impersonate Morrison, he possesses him. Perfectly.
But a little of Jim goes a long, long, long way. Stone doesn't seem perturbed and keeps laying it on. I got the wild image of Morrison early on and I would've liked to know more about this poet's soul.
"They want my dick, not my words," he remarks sadly.
Other performances are strong, with Kyle MacLachlan as Morrison's truest believer and band-keyboardist ("Twin Peaks" and "Showgirls"), Frank Whaley as guitarist Robby Krieger ("Swimming with Sharks," "Jimmy Show" and "Homage"), Meg Ryan, Billy Idol and Kevin Dillion. They don't really shine, but then they're all never really allowed to. It's all Kilmer's show as Morrison---like the real "Doors"?
Apparently, the movie seems to think so. By the end of the film, of course, Morrison has died--of course. It plays out not so much like a tragedy as really the best thing for everybody (especially Morrison himself--he's finally achieved his dream).
Kilmer's performance, the Door's music and Stone's crazy LSD-eyed view make this movie really worth seeing... it's all like a crazy three-month long trip while The Doors are blasting all the time---Morrison at the center of it all. Still blowing everyone away with this fire...
Still, I recommend the film. But be forewarned--this is the life of Jim Morrison...
"Pretty pretentious, Stone."
by Dane Youssef