An Unfortunate Attempt-Doesn't Do the Band Justice

Rating: 4/10 (12 May 2006)

Even for hard-core Doors fans, Oliver Stone's "The Doors" falls far short of portraying the band that rocked the Sixties Music Scene. For beginners, the movie focuses exclusively on Morrison, skillfully portrayed by almost look-alike, Val Kilmer, whose performance as The Lizard King borders on over-the top. The rest of the band is given practically no character, with Manzarek made to look like the only musically-oriented member of the band. Kevin Dillon spends the entire movie looking scared. The movie wallows too much in Morrison's personal life,choosing instead to show a violent, depraved, psychotic side, and less of the tormented poet Morrison actually was. The cinematography at best was amateur. One of the only potential saving graces of the movie, the included two-dozen songs, are poorly placed in the movie. Overall, the movie is an extreme disappointment, and is better titled Jim Morrison: How I learned to stop worrying and commit suicide. Even the best of Doors fans will find this attempt at recreating the band's history a shame to the music, with Kilmer's performance being the only saving grace.