My heart is still heavy over Val Kilmer's death. I've been rewatching some of my favorites of his movies, and today, I'm sharing the list of my top ten favorites with you.
1. Tombstone (1993)
A free-wheeling recreation of that one time Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) and his friend Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), plus Wyatt's brothers (Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton), had a showdown with Ike Clanton and his pals, and Tombstone, Arizona never got over it. This movie is a wildly good time, particularly every scene Val Kilmer is in. And the score by Bruce Broughton is one of my all-time favorites.
2. Willow (1988)
A small farmer (Warwick Davis) reluctantly teams up with a big braggart (Val Kilmer) to save a baby princess from a wicked queen (Jean Marsh). Along the way, the braggart falls in love with the queen's daughter (Joanne Whalley) onscreen and off. It was one of the first fantasy movies I ever saw, and it's still a dear favorite.
3. Spartan (2004)
When the daughter of an important American government official is kidnapped, an impressively capable agent (Val Kilmer) is sent to retrieve her before she's sold into slavery overseas. It's a tense thriller that makes plain the all-too-real ease with which human trafficking occurs here in the U.S., and the difficulty in rescuing someone from it. And it's cool seeing Clark Gregg work with Val Kilmer.
4. Real Genius (1985)
A teen genius (Gabe Jarrett) enters a school for the scientifically gifted, where he and his offbeat roommate (Val Kilmer) try to stay sane while also solving a mystery surrounding just what their scientific discoveries and creations are being used for. My college roommates and I were obsessed with this movie for a while, and we used to wear these funny headbands around campus (even to classes) as a nod to Val Kilmer's character in this movie.
5. Batman Forever (1995)
Bruce Wayne/Batman (Val Kilmer) tries to stop Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and Edward Nygma/The Riddler (Jim Carrey) from taking over Gotham, while also mentoring an orphan (Chris O'Donnell) and romancing a psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman). Is this movie a dayglo comic book extravaganza? Yes. Does it also have a compelling storyline and some really good character development? Also, yes. I just rewatched it this week for the first time in a while, and was excited to find I still really love it.
6. The Saint (1997)
Simon Templar (Val Kilmer) is a professional thief who gets involved with Russian spies and a beautiful scientist (Elizabeth Shue) while just trying to do his job: stealing some nuclear macguffin or other. The real treat here is all the disguises Templar uses, which lets Kilmer transform himself again and again in ridiculously fun ways.
7. Thunderheart (1992)
An FBI agent (Val Kilmer) with Native American heritage is assigned to solve a murder on a Sioux reservation, despite the efforts of others to either cover up the truth or use the crime to pursue their own agendas. The fact that Val Kilmer had Native heritage himself (he was 1/8 Cherokee) is a total bonus for how perfect he is in this role. The story is based on true incidents.
8. The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
A professional hunter (Michael Douglas) teams up with a British engineer (Val Kilmer) to take down two man-killing lions that have been attacking workers trying to build a bridge in Africa. It often feels like a throwback to the adventure movies of the '50s and '60s, but with more realistic violence. Maybe that's because the screenplay is by William Goldman, who wrote The Princess Bride (book and screenplay both), as well as screenplays for movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and Maverick (1994).
9. Prince of Egypt (1998)
Animated take on the life of Moses (Val Kilmer), growing up in Pharaoh's household and being tasked by God with leading the Jewish nation out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land. Excellent take on the historical account from the Bible, and the songs are really cool, too.
10. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
An Air Force pilot (Tom Cruise) has to train the wild son (Miles Teller) of his fallen wingman for a dangerous mission. Val Kilmer gets a small scene as Tom Cruise's former rival and current superior officer, and it's a moving one.
Please note that Tombstone, Spartan, Thunderheart, and The Ghost and the Darkness are all rated R, so you may want to investigate their content levels further before watching them if that is of concern to you.
