Documentary Movie Reviews

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Val (2021)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 10/21

Val
10/21: What the heck happened to Val Kilmer?

He did a couple of terrible comedies during the 80's until Top Gun completely changed the trajectory of his career. The first half of the 90's was the best run for Val Kilmer, but everything started to go south big time when he appeared in The Island of Dr. Moreau. Things were never the same again.

I saw in the news some years ago that Val Kilmer might be dying and that he looked drastically different. At first, he denied the rumors, but it was apparent he had throat cancer as confirmed by Michael Douglas who's also a survivor. Now, Val Kilmer can't speak without pushing a button on his throat.

Lot of what I said is covered in Val. The broken-down actor touches several films for insights, but most of the time is spent on his scrapbook that's culled from art work, home videos that can fill a warehouse, and travels. It's interesting at first, but the documentary loses focus and has many stretches of meaningless segments which can be sometimes awkward to watch.

Val Kilmer mentions one brother who died at 15 but says nothing about the other surviving brother. So, what's that about? How about his failed marriage to Joanne? Maybe he's really gay after all. Val Kilmer even admitted in the news he hasn't had a girlfriend in over twenty years.

Despite some worthy footage, the whole thing is ultimately disappointing. I'll like to hear more about Val Kilmer's work in depth for various films, most especially Thunderheart, Tombstone, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Ghost and the Darkness. Also, Val should've explained why he was so famously difficult to work with.

All in all, I hate it when celebrities either release a book or a movie but barely talk about themselves or their body of work, hence the need for an independent biographer who's brave enough to reveal everything.