After Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, Oliver Stone continues his full frontal assault on America in the '60s with The Doors, a 2h20min picture about Jim Morrison, the filmmaker turned poet turned rock star and self-styled Lizard King, who rose to the top, outraged as many people as he turned on, burnt himself out on drugs, drinks and sex, and died at the age of 27.
The '60s were an extraordinary decade and Stone is obviously both fascinated and appalled by the era and its stars. He tells Morrison's story warts and all: the temper tantrums and the bad trips, the exhibitionism and the dabbling in kinky sex and black music, the groupies and the frenzied fans, and the po-faced establishment that tried to curb this manic free spirit.
Val Kilmer looks uncannily like Jim Morrison and gives an astonishingly good performance as the doomed rock star.
The Doors is often an ugly film: it's loud, it's relentless, it's humourless, and it's self-important, but it does have a powerful impact, and it does recreate an era with considerable skill.
Margaret: I found it all a bit tedious.
