Val

There is a group of actors and filmmakers that I have grown up watching throughout their careers that I adore. I have seen them go from playing characters in high school to the adults they fought against when they were younger all while reminding me of my own age. Val Kilmer was one of those actors who I just gravitated to after his performance as Nick Rivers in Top Secret and from that point I was going to watch most of the things he was in. Now in the new documentary Val  we get to relive a career that has lasted almost forty years and a way I get to relive memories in my own life as we go down Val Kilmer memory lane.

Kilmer has been about as big as a movie star as you can find, he has played everyone from Batman to Doc Holiday, as well as Iceman, the pilot who kept Maverick in check for most of Top Gun. While it is not rare for people today to record every aspect of their lives, thirty or forty years ago it wasn’t something that happened.. Kilmer though is not like most and he recorded his life and now we get to see those unfiltered moments with him. We see how, with his brothers he would make movies at his house as a kid that would lead to him be bitten by the acting bug. Those home movies would eventually lead to Juilliard, where Kilmer was the youngest person ever accepted. Everything though hasn’t been easy for Val, as he lost his brother when he was younger and is now currently recovering from throat cancer that has robbed him of his voice. This though is not a film that is going to dwell on the past, this is about reflection and more than anything, what comes next. With narration written by Kilmer and delivered by his son Jack, Val is not a vanity project, as Kilmer is very forthcoming about the peaks and his valleys in his life. Directed by Ting Poo and Leo Scott, who are editors, here get to apply that craft as they go through hundreds of hours of footage to deliver a perfect picture who Kilmer was and is now.

What Val is full of is honesty, where most don’t want to point out their flaws or past mistakes, Kilmer does, even showing things that back up his reputation of being an actor difficult to work with. You don’t have to be a Kilmer fan to enjoy this and if you are you will for sure want to see this, to hear the story as well as hear some great Hollywood stories. Val is not without its problems, as things are not fully fleshed out, like how he has no money left. Also it is told only through his side, so you won’t hear anyone else’s point of view in regard to some of his stories. Kilmer definitely regards himself as the hero of his own story and when this story is done you will love him even more, flaws and all.