RIP Val Kilmer (1959 - 2025)

 

Sad news to wake up to as I found out actor Val Kilmer passed away at the age of 65.

Having struggled with health issues for the better part of a decade, Kilmer was one of those singular talents that left a mark whatever movie he did.

Often labelled a difficult actor, Kilmer certainly had his demons, as illustrated in the wonderful documentary Val released in 2021 on Amazon Prime. There you get a snapshot of what Kilmer was like on set, through his own recording plus testimonies of some of his family and collaborators. And yes, difficult is certainly one side of him... but so is creative, daring and sensitive. Maybe people haven't really figured out just how much of a generational talent he was, but look at some of his body of work and you will quickly see the man was involved in some of the most iconic films in movie-making history, along with the best talent both in front and behind the camera.

Top Gun (1986) must have been my first introduction to Kilmer. There he played the cocky"by the book" ace known as Iceman, a role set against a rising Tom Cruise, that he would reprise 36 years later in the popular sequel, which served as an emotional farewell to the character, at a time when Kilmer was in pretty bad shape due to having a throat cancer diagnosed back in 2015. 

The Doors (1991) biopic directed by Oliver Stone was also one of my earliest memories of Kilmer, who played the lead singer Jim Morrison. At the time, I couldn't really judge much of how close his performance was to the real thing as I think the movie was probably responsible for me being introduced to the band, but years later I could see Kilmer was practically a carbon copy of Morrison, capturing his dangerous and rebellious personality "to a T". But in those early years, when I got exposed to this particular film, I remember feeling like a naughty kid who had access to a film that wasn't appropriate for my age. I don't know the specific age, but I recall looking at that tiny red circle at the top right hand-corner, which back in the day meant those films were for 18-year-old or above audiences. No surprise as the movie was all about "sex, drugs and rock & roll".

Top Secret (1984) and Willow (1988) two of his early iconic films were projects I never got to see, but Tombstone (1993) was definitely one of his other milestones where he played probably everyone's favourite character "Doc Holliday". Few years later he delivered a version of Elvis Presley in Tony Scott's classic (written by none other than Quentin Tarantino) True Romance (1993), which I only saw many years after its release.

Now follows my most watched Kilmer movie of all-time... Batman Forever (1995).

Directed by Joel Schumacher, who took over Tim Burton's unique vision of the Dark Knight due to the studio's desire to make Batman more "family friendly", and in the process sell a bunch of merchandise, this got Kilmer's face around the globe.

 

Michael Keaton, who had played the lead role until then, was replaced as he didn't intend to make another Batman movie without Burton.

The film was greeted with poor reviews and audiences alike were highly critical of it... but for a kid like me, it felt magnificent!

The excitement around it was further enhanced by the fact that I had access to it way before the film made it to Portugal as my Dad brought a VHS tape from the United States.

I watched that tape so many times that I ended up knowing every single line by heart.

I kid you not.

Every. Single. Line.

Even though Keaton will forever be my Batman, Kilmer has a very special place in my heart and I still credit him for doing a great Bruce Wayne/Batman. Perhaps had he done it with someone closer to Burton's vision, he would have been a recipient of kinder words for his portrayal of the DC Comics iconic character.

In the same year, Kilmer also came up with a supporting role in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), a heist film that not only reunited Al Pacino and Robert De Niro for the first time since they were on set for Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather 2, but also marked the first time both actors shared a scene on screen, delivering the epic "diner" scene, a cinema favourite.

Other films followed, including The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) which was surrounded by plenty of issues and controversy at the time, from casting problems (Bruce Willis was intended to take the lead role but had to step out due to his divorce with Demi Moore), to weather issues that made it difficult to film, and Kilmer's own difficult personality often collading with his peers on set. Important to say that Kilmer had seen an opportunity in this film to work alongside legendary actor Marlon Brando (branded by many as the best of all time). There's a whole documentary about this released in 2014 by the name of Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau.

Other movies included The Saint (1997), based on the iconic TV show starring Roger Moore, The Prince of Egypt (1998), which my wife has been trying to get me to see for a long time (she even brought it up last night), and captured the hearts of many families around the world with its beautiful animation and great storytelling... Pollock (2000), the critically panned Alexander (2004) (an Oliver Stone/Kilmer reunion), Tony Scott's "Deja Vu" (2006) and three of my favourite Kilmer motion-pictures The Salton Sea (2002), Wonderland (2003) and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the latter being one of my all-time favourite comedies, as a product of a great collaboration between writer/director Shane Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Kilmer.

Many other films have been released in years to follow, some of which very popular amongst the actor's fans (like Gia Coppola 2013's Palo Alto or Terrence Mallick 2017's Song to Song), but not many able to stir up the same excitement as his earliest work. For me, Felon (2008), and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) stack up as the two that I really enjoyed watching before Top Gun's sequel... 

Ohhhh... and I have to mention his villainous character opposite Will Forte on the SNL inspired 2010 movie "MacGruber" (a satire of iconic TV show/character MacGyver), which I never saw but always makes me laugh every time I catch a scene on YouTube.

It's only fitting that a man of Kilmer's talent and on-screen presence had his illustrious, yet at points complicated career, came to an end with two two of his most personal and emotional projects, both of which have already been mentioned in this post: the documentary Val and Top Gun: Maverick - his final film performance.

With a compelling body of work, I urge cinema lovers out there to dive deep into his work - including some of the absolute unknown gems mentioned here.