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Boston Globe

As an actor, Val Kilmer was a real genius

Kilmer's versatility as an actor was readily evident from his first movie, 1984's 'Top Secret!' In my favorite movie from the guys who brought us 'Airplane!,' Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, a Conrad Birdie-style singer whose gig in East Germany somehow morphs into an espionage plot to save a kidnapped scientist. Advertisement This hilarious spoof of both Elvis movies and World War II films gave Kilmer the opportunity to sing, something he'd also do in the far more respectable Oliver Stone biopic of Jim Morrison, 'The Doors.' In that film, he was so convincing as Morrison some members of The Doors couldn't differentiate between the voices of Kilmer and the real Jim Morrison. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But back to 'Top Secret!' for a second. Some of the gags are so inside baseball that, as a geeky 14-year-old wannabe cinephile, I was the only one laughing at the Loews Jersey theater where I saw it in ′84. No matter! Nick Rivers turns Elvis's hit song, 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' into a commercial jingle, sings a Beach Boys-inspired number about 'Skeet Surfin'' in one of the funniest opening-credits sequences ever, and gets into a bar fight while underwater . Advertisement By showcasing Kilmer's singing, acting, and comedic-timing chops, 'Top Secret!' stands out as one of the great acting debuts. Kilmer played everyone from 'The Saint''s Simon Templar to Batman (in 1995's 'Batman Forever'), but Nick Rivers may be my favorite of his performances. It's a close match, though: I also loved Kilmer's performance in his next film, 1985's comedy classic 'Real Genius.' Billed as a teenage sex comedy despite its PG rating, this is the movie that should have been called 'Revenge of the Nerds.' Set at a Cal Tech-style school for geniuses, Kilmer plays Chris Knight, the wisecracking character every film in this genre requires. His job is to help his young protégé, Mitch (Gabe Jarret), ace his senior project and have some fun while doing it. Every line Kilmer utters is quotable here — 'I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, '... I drank what?'' — and there's a lightness to his work that he never duplicated once he became a 'serious actor.' As silly as 'Real Genius' gets, there's a scene where director Martha Coolidge showcases the same kind of silent-acting greatness that Kilmer demonstrated decades later in 'Top Gun: Maverick.' When that senior project's laser prototype is sabotaged by the film's bespectacled villain, Kent, Chris realizes that his future is shot to hell. After kicking and punching the dormitory walls, he knocks over a freezer — and out rolls the means to his salvation, a frozen nitrogen cylinder he can use to quickly recreate his laser. Coolidge fixes her camera on Kilmer's face as the epiphany hits him, and she lets the reaction play out in real time. You can see the confidence return to his wounded eyes. Suddenly, he starts to giggle. Then he launches into a joyful dance before giving the world yet another Kilmer quotable line: 'It's a moral imperative to get revenge on Kent.' Advertisement Val Kilmer, left, and Robert Downey Jr. in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." John Bramley/Warner Brothers Pictures I could have spent my time here ruminating on Kilmer's excellent turn as Doc Holliday in the 1993 Kurt Russell western, 'Tombstone' ('I'm your huckleberry' is yet another great Kilmer line) or listing any number of scenes from 2005's Shane Black-directed darkly comic neo-noir, 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.' His work in David Mamet's 2004 thriller, 'Spartan,' is also worth mentioning. He's one of 10 million actors who played Elvis, in the dreadful 1993 Tony Scott-Quentin Tarantino collaboration, 'True Romance.' And the informative 2021 documentary 'Val' is required viewing for fans and newbies alike. Hell, I could have really gone rogue and mentioned 1996's absolutely terrible 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' remake he made with Marlon Brando. At least his flawless Brando imitation was daring. I'm sure plenty of other tributes will mention your favorites. I chose to focus on the two movies that put Kilmer on the map for me, the films I saw as a burgeoning cinephile that made me want to follow the prickly actor anywhere from Berlin to Gotham City. Watching Kilmer in movies was more than a pleasure. Like revenge on Kent, it's a moral imperative. Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.