Today I pay tribute to the late Val Kilmer.
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The movie world lost an amazing talent yesterday as Val Kilmer passed away at the age of 65 after a bout with pneumonia. This was unfortunately the latest in a long ling of medical issues Kilmer encountered towards the end of his life, including a two-year battle with throat cancer that all but took away his voice and required a litany of ongoing medical care. So today, I wanted to pay tribute to a charismatic performer, full of foibles professionally and his personal life, that left an indelible mark on the film industry.
The first time I saw Val Kilmer perform was in Batman Forever in a rendition of Batman that skyrocketed "Kiss From A Rose" into the pop ballad stratosphere and leaned more heavily on two villains played by Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones. And began tearing through his filmography as a young film buff.
The traditional story is that Kilmer started off as comedy and genre star before expanding into a bit of everything in the nineties, going gritty in the 2000s, as so many films did in that era, before more sporadic work and his eventual health struggles.
He also developed a reputation for being difficult thanks to a number of spats with directors and some co-stars including being a major player in the "movie who's making of is an infinitely better story than the resulting film" 1997's The Island of Dr. Moreau and a rocky relationship with Joel Schumaker that put George Clooney in the Batsuit for Batman and Robin.
He could comedy. He could do drama. He could be the lead of your blockbuster film or a scene-stealing supporting character (often in ways that made him feel like the lead).
But I think that arc fails to capture what made him special as a performer: added depth.
Almost every major role in Kilmer's career looks simple on the surface. In Real Genius, Tombstone, and even Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Kilmer highlights one of his best assets as a performer, razor sharp sarcastic line delivery in comedies or as comedic relief. But the reason he stands out in said movies, despite not being the lead, are those layers of added depth.
In Real Genius Kilmer perfectly captures the youthful, fun at-all-costs, exuberance of the titular genius Chris Knight, while also demonstrating a well of empathy for his fellow students (including his young put-upon roommate) and absolute heartbreak when he realizes what his hard work is being used for.
In Tombstone he runs away with the movie at Doc Holliday. Not just because he's the only named character that seems to have a personality, but also because his flights of fancy in Latin are punctuated by heartbreakers like his response to "I got plenty of friends:" "I don't"
And as much as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is Shane Black neo-noir ridiculousness weaving in and out of the tropes it's making fun of, the coda to the movie is a one two punch of Kilmer delivering a savage monologue to an abusive old man, and then commenting to the screen "to all you kind people in the Midwest, sorry we said fuck so much." Robert Downey Jr. also heaped praises on Kilmer for supporting his sobriety, when Downey Jr. was trying to put his life and career back together pre-Iron Man.
Movies from three decades and all entirely reliant on Kilmer's versatility to work.
When he was on, he was indispensable to a movie's appeal. Whether that was cycling a weapon so effectively in Heat legend has it, it's shown to Special Forces for how to quick change magazines or being the best thing about a very flawed Doors movie from Oliver Stone, in an era before music biopics became the go-to place for showcase acting performances, playing and later embodying an FBI agent engaging with injustices done to our native peoples in Thunderheart, or chomping in Tom Cruise's face as a retort in Top Gun.
There's so many moments that made the reveal of his cancer diagnosis and extreme damage to his voice so affecting. A sinking knowledge that we'd never get that again. Especially if you've seen his self-titled documentary Val that goes through his expansive career and life.
Which is why it is both fitting and heartbreaking that Kilmer's final performance was as Ice Man in Top Gun: Maverick. By Kilmer's own account, he didn't presume he would be involved or want anything to do with the movie. That was until Tom Cruise insisted upon it as Tom Cruise is want to do. The quotes from Cruise were always something akin to "we can't do this movie without him."
Intentional or not, this insistence gave us both a heartbreaking scene in which Kilmer barely says two lines and his most impactful line is a typed "It's time to let go," paired with a probing look from Kilmer before his character dies peacefully off-screen before a stirring military funeral
It's a beautiful coda that so many movie careers rarely get.
While my favorite Val Kilmer performance is almost always the one I saw last, if pressed I'd have to say his portrayal of Doc Holliday in Tombstone. A role so good he rides away with the movie. His humor, his mannerisms, how distinctive he is, how he delivers silly lines like "I'm Your Huckleberry" so smoothly I've heard it referenced in rap tracks. All with those added moments of depth and beauty that made Kilmer's best roles hit their hardest.
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