The Doors Review:

The Film

The movie, despite being named "The Doors" focuses mainly on Jim Morrison, lead singer in the American psychedelic rock group of the mid 60s until his death in 1971. A very controversial Oliver Stone picture, the film is likely to only appeal to fans of The Doors, and anyone who has never heard of them or their music is likely to find this picture quite dull.

The remaining members of The Doors have slammed this film as "totally inaccurate" and that "it makes Jim Morrison out to be a liar, a cheat and a drunk." I don't know if that's true, but, as a fan of their music, I found this an entertaining movie. Jim Morrison is portrayed excellently by Val Kilmer, who both looks and sounds like Morrison and gives probably the performance of his career.

Despite the focus on Morrison, we do see a lot of The Doors, both in the studio and, impressively live on stage, in which the concert scenes are extremely well done. The movie is a powerful portrayal of drink, drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll and what it can do to you, as we see by the end of the movie Morrison has gone from being a vibrant 22 year old rock god to a fat, lonely, drunk and drugged man living in Paris, until he overdoses in a bath at the mere age of 27.

Sound/Picture

The main track is a Dolby Digital 5.1, and an excellent track it is too. The film is quite dialogue based, but speech is always crisp and clear. When the concert scenes get going though, the sound envelops you and really does a good job of making you feel as if you're really there!

Presented with an Anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer, this is an excellent picture. The image is crisp and clear at all times, even when the concert scenes are going, and it's dark, the image holds together very well.

Extras

The audio commentary from Oliver Stone is about the best thing going in terms of extras, which are lacklustre at best. It's a real shame, because the 2 disc Region 1 Special Edition features a 50 minute  documentary which is very interesting, plus a host of deleted scenes which have been dropped
for the region 2 edition.

What we do get are a few trailers, a couple of interviews and what is called "Making Of" on the box certainly isn't, it's a 6 minute pointless piece of
largely silent footage.

Overall

A film that Doors fans should see, and non-Doors fans probably shouldn't. An excellent transfer in terms of video and audio but the pathetic extras,
which should push you, if possible, to the 2 disc region 1 edition.

James Padgett

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