The Doors

Rating:
Summary: some couldn't understand him, that's why they hated him.
Review: Morrison new more about the world than we thought. I say go to ---- to all the people who said that he was a bad influence to our community, or people who fought againsted him. I wasn't around at that time so I cant say if the movie was close to the real life of thoes times or not but it was a good movie. 420 420 420 420 420 420 420 420

Rating:
Summary: An absolute insult.
Review: My review basically sums up to the review of "A viewer from BROOKLINE MA, USA , February 18, 1999". I also agree with "[e-mail] fromm Texas , February 27, 1999" (who claims he/she is "Ray Manzarek") The movie was horribly innacurate. I read more than enough of "Light My Fire" (written by Ray Manzarek) to know what the above reviewer is talking about, and I don't blame Ray for slamming Stone and his movie so much. I perfectly understand him. How would you like it if some Hollywood director made a movie slandering your best friend? Portraying him as nothing but a obnoxious, self-indulgent (I know he did succumb a lot, but he did a lot more than that) a****** who just happened to be a poet and a musician? I believe "Light My Fire" more than the movie because Ray mentions the famous, or should I say "infamous", incident on "The Ed Sullivan Show" was depicted very incorrectly. I saw the actual performance along with an interview with Ray Manzarek himself, and Ray was right! That right there gives the book more credibility than the movie "The Doors" (the movie I saw the performance on was "The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show-The Greatest Entertainers", also, according to Ray, you can see at least just the performance on The Doors video "Dance On Fire").

I unfortunately don't know the opinion of John Densmore on this movie (I'll have to read his book, "Riders on the Storm"). After all, his book, as well as himself, were major consultants for the movie. He even acted in it as "Last Session Sound Engineer"! If he told Stone all the falsehoods were true, I'll be seriously pissed and disappointed that he could do such a thing.

As for the movie's other qualities I, as "A viewer from BROOKLINE MA, USA , February 18, 1999" said, thought Val Kilmer did as best a job he could with such an "inept", as well as very innacurate, script. I also found Val's stage antics and dancing entertaining, especially in the end of the Whiskey-a-Go-Go scene where The Doors played "The End", Jim said the forbidden verse, and they were kicked out of the club as a result. I didn't find the movie very entertaining though, mostly because of how Jim Morrison was portrayed (you get tired of watching some a****** run around drinking, cheating, saying weird *@&% like "[the fans] want something sacred"; Actually, a lot of the characters said stupid things like that, come to think of it) and some other things that were just bad. They were general things, like the script of basically everyone. Some of the parts of the movie I didn't get, and I blame myself and not the movie if a lot of other people got it on their own. The part where Jim goes into the cave during Pam, Dorothy, and the band's trip was very odd and confusing. All he did was go into the cave, scare a mountain lion or whatever feline that was, and see the Native American who makes repeated appereances throughout the movie (I'm not sure, but I think he's one of the "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding", the same one lying down with a trickle of blood on his mouth). Another part I don't get is the one where Jim sings "Not To Touch The Earth", which I might add, is one of my favorite Doors' songs and one of my favorite songs overall, and he does that eagle dance or whatever with all those Native Americans dancing with him. Not to mention that he does it for so long without singing! His rests (I mean the musical type of "rest") weren't THAT long! There were some other parts I didn't get or I thought were pointless in the movie, but I won't go into that further. As for the music, I thought the soundtrack was good. The songs were very wisely pieced together. However, in the vast majority of the concert scenes, the music was butchered. For example, in the concert where Jim sings "Not To Touch The Earth", all you can really hear is, of course, Jim's singing, the drums, bass, and every now and then a touch of guitar and/or keyboards. Same with the infamous Miami concert with "Five To One". Also (I'm still talking about concert scenes), they didn't do a very good job showing the fast transition of songs. The only example I can think of is the infamous New Haven concert. Jim sings part of "Backdoor Man", suddenly screams into the microphone, then we're suddenly towards the end of "When The Music's Over", which gets cut short. After that, John plays the beat heard in the quiet, middle part of the song, over the bass, and Jim tells the audience what the cop did to him and Patricia.

Doors fans, or even just anybody who watches or hears about this movie, don't take this movie as being true. The fact is, it's not. Jim Morrison wasn't like that ALWAYS, or even most of the time. He was more sober than stoned. It's just that he had fights, sometimes lasting very long, with alcohol and/or drugs. However, that doesn't mean you can't watch the movie for it's entertaining value. Just don't buy Stone's point-of-view of The Doors. If you want to know the truth about the great Doors, watch the videos they themselves made, and/or the books people who knew them well wrote.

Rating:
Summary: Overblown Movie About Overrated Singer
Review: I've always felt that Jim Morrison's death at a young age spared him the humiliation of being unmasked as a mediocre artist and a low-rent character. This movie did nothing to change my view. Kudos to Val Kilmer for a great performance, but Morrison isn't worth all the attention and adulation he has received. His early demise immortalized him and spared him a career flame-out.

As comedian Dennis Leary said, "We don't need a three hour movie about Jim Morrison. I'll tell you his story: I'm drunk, I'm nobody; I'm drunk, I'm famous; I'm drunk, I'm ^%*&%$* dead!

Rating:
Summary: Immaculately done!
Review: I for one am a huge fan of The Doors.I thought it portrayed Jim in the first half of the movie then it took a down turn.I think the last half was reflecting his bad side which is why it didnt gain much publicity.All in all i truely recommend viewers to watch it, even if youve heard of the Doors but havent got a good idea on who they were.This movie will help you.

Rating:
Summary: EXELLENT MOVIE!
Review: The Doors, i found it to be a cool movie! VAL KILMER should have won an oscar playing the role of the legendary Jim Morrison. I am not really a Val Kilmer fan, but when i saw The Doors, man he did a great job. Not only does Val look like him, but Val had to actually SING all of the doors songs, which made all of those live concert scene seemed more real! (by the way Val sounds alot like the Lizard King). so if you loved the REAl Doors band, then you should see this movie!

Rating:
Summary: This is a start.
Review: Although the accuracy of this film is horrible, it is still a good MOVIE. But I am still waiting for them to release the DVD Special Edition of this movie that they released for Laser Disk. Cut scenes, interviews, Oliver Stone commentary throughout, and other extras. How long must we wait?!!!!?

Rating:
Summary: True? A Viewer from Finland, 17 years
Review: When I saw this film for the first time, about three months ago, I started wondering was that the Doors that I fell in love with? It was so different than the Doors that I read about in the books, but I guess it was true, because John, Robby and Ray were all a part of the filmmakers. To me the movie was a shock, is that the way everything happened? I guess it was.Actors were good, music (of course) was good and the directing was good, but...something was missing.

Rating:
Summary: For fans of the doors, the 60's, and music in general
Review: Val Kilmer is truly one of the finest actors in Hollywood today. If there are any doubts about this, watch 'the doors', then 'Top Secret'. Both movies feature Val as a musician, but they exist in totally separate realms. It's true, there could have been so much more about Jim Morrison's demons (only hinted at by the bald Indian, who symbolized Jim's death--watch how close to death he comes every time the bald Indian appears). In fact, the movie shouldn't have been called 'the doors' at all, but rather 'Jim Morrison', or something along those lines. This film details Jim's self-destruction and dances around his genius. This is not a movie to watch with some friends on a Friday night, but more to watch alone and examine your own mistakes. All in all, a fantastic performance (especially Val's vocals on most of the tracks), but not very bright and cheery. If you want a movie that glamorizes the 60's, watch 'Forrest Gump'. If you want a movie about real people with real problems, watch 'the doors', and don't forget thatJim Morrison was a human being like you and me.

Rating:
Summary: A very intriging movie - not a reference source for the band
Review: I'm an Oliver Stone fan and a Doors fan so maybe I'm a little biased, but I thought 'The Doors' was an extremely entertaining movie. It wasn't Stone's best picture, but it deserves 4 stars for Val Kilmer's performance alone (I feel he should have been nominated for an Academy Award). I have no idea what Morrison was like in reality, but the man I've always imagined him to be was captured to a tee in Kilmer's excellent portrayal. Warning to biography hounds... this is a movie, and a pretty fun one to watch at that, but its not a documenary. You shouldn't view this movie if you're expectations are set on finding factual information. The truth is, only Morrison knew what was really going on in his head. But if you're wanting to check out an entertaining interpretation of the truth, give 'The Doors' a try; it might expand your mind!!

Rating:
Summary: It all depends on what your expectations are going into it.
Review: I think some of the people who wrote some of these other reviews may have had some pretty high expectations of what the film would accomplish. No, it doesn't definitively depict the life and times of the band. Yes, it focuses primarily on the self-destruction of James D. Morrison. Yes, it's one-sided (blame the Coursons for that). So what? Get it for the concert scenes alone, and Val Kilmer's ininmitable performance as Morrison. I'd recommend reading "Riders on the Storm" by drummer John Densmore (either before or after seeing the film) to get an idea of what Oliver Stone was getting at (and also to appreciate the cameo appearances by the likes of Patricia Kenealy and Densmore himself as "Last Session Sound Engineer"). Bets of all, get one of the concert videos and check out the real deal.