10 Best Val Kilmer Movies, Ranked

These are films that have grown steadily in their pop culture popularity and continue to have a presence in the increasingly crowded online world. Some of these movies succeed mostly thanks to Kilmer's performance, while others are simply great, with Kilmer as a single contributor to their success. While the actor's battle with throat cancer has slowed his career, his cultural footprint is all but ensured. This list will rank Val Kilmer's best films based on their overall quality, Kilmer's role within the story, and their place among his cinematic oeuvre.

10 'Batman Forever' (1996)

Directed by Joel Schumacher

Kilmer's time wearing the cape and cowl was short-lived due to tensions between the actor and director Joel Schumacher on the set of Batman Forever. It was the third of the big-budget Batman movies and the first without original director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton. After Warner Bros. was disappointed in the dark content (and lower box office) of Batman Returns, they brought on Kilmer and Schumacher to create a more marketable superhero film that wouldn't scare children and could sell McDonald's toys.

For better or worse, that's exactly what they got. Batman Forever and Kilmer's performance, retrospectively, fall somewhere in the middle of fan rankings, far from the beloved The Dark Knight but not nearly as derided as Batman & Robin. The movie shares a lot of similarities with the infamous latter, including the garish visuals and maximalism of Schumacher's style, and Kilmer is massively overshadowed by the scenery-chewing villains played by Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones. Regardless, Batman Forever was a box office hit, keeping Kilmer and the Caped Crusader in the pop culture conversation.

9 'Willow' (1988)

Directed by Ron Howard

A critically panned fantasy movie upon its release, Willow has since developed a cult following strong enough to earn a follow-up series, though not strong enough to keep it from being canceled and subsequently removed from Disney+. This George Lucas-produced epic borrows a great deal from The Lord of the Rings in its plot, which follows the titular character, a farmer from a small village played by Warwick Davis, who becomes an unwitting caregiver to a baby who is targeted by an evil sorceress.

Kilmer plays Madmartigan, a devil-may-care swordsman with a character arc taken straight from Han Solo. With that amount of cliché piled on top, it would be easy for Madmartigan to be a dull caricature, but Kilmer has such charisma in the role that he ends up being one of the most fun aspects of the movie and a swashbuckling reminder of the actor's star power. Much like the movie itself, it's a performance that deserves to be revisited.

8 'Thunderheart' (1992)

Directed by Michael Apted

Thunderheart is an underrated '90s thriller that is often forgotten among Kilmer's filmography, similar to other films of his from the same decade, such as The Real McCoy and The Ghost and the Darkness. It's a fictionalized account of the Wounded Knee incident that occurred in 1973 when Oglala Lakota protesters occupied the South Dakota town, which resulted in conflict with federal agents and several deaths.

The film turns real-life events into a neo-Western murder mystery that is very successful as a social thriller thanks to Michael Apted's documentarian eye and director of photography Roger Deakins' beautiful lensing of the South Dakota locations. It still falls prey to certain stereotypes and aspects of a white savior narrative (Kilmer's character is supposed to be of mixed Sioux heritage), but Thunderheart still gives room to its Native American characters. Kilmer is a solid lead, and his chemistry with First Nations actor Graham Greene provides some of the best scenes in the film.

7 'Top Gun' (1986)

Directed by Tony Scott

The massive success of Top Gun first catapulted Kilmer to stardom, and it's easy to see why. In his antagonistic supporting performance as Iceman, the rival to Tom Cruise's Maverick, Kilmer delivers a true star-is-born moment. The arc of the two-megawatt stars going from rivals to wingmen (with a very suggestive volleyball game in between) is pure popcorn fodder.

While the movie may belong to Cruise and isn't as good as some people remember, Kilmer's turn was still iconic enough that he was brought back for a brief cameo to honor his character's legacy in Top Gun: Maverick. The 1986 Tony Scott original may have since been eclipsed by its legacy sequel, but Top Gun remains a slick, fun slice of '80s American cheese, and Kilmer is a key ingredient.

6 'Real Genius' (1985)

Directed by Martha Coolidge

Kilmer has always had comedic chops, but his career is fairly slim when it comes to true blue comedies. A manic exception is the cult college comedy Real Genius. Premiering in the era of other high-concept teen comedies like Back to the Future and Weird Science, Real Genius stars Kilmer as a gifted senior at a prestigious tech school who has taken to slacker antics to cope with the burden of expectations.

Kilmer acts as a mentor to a nerdy new student, and collegiate hijinks ensue. The movie is far less lascivious than some of its contemporaries, and it also stands apart thanks to a sci-fi subplot involving space lasers. Kilmer's performance is one of his best, combining his signature charisma with a deeper insecurity that gets revealed over time. More people should pay attention to this undersung and curious '80s hidden gem.

5 'Top Secret!' (1984)

Directed by Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker

The fact that comedy doesn't play a larger role in Kilmer's career is odd, considering his film debut was in one of the funniest spy comedies of all time. Top Secret! came from the filmmaking team of Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker, the minds behind the essential comedy classic Airplane! While this follow-up, which spoofs everything from espionage thrillers to Elvis movies, may not be as well remembered, it's arguably just as funny.

Kilmer plays American heartthrob and singer Nick Rivers, who gets involved in the French resistance while visiting East Germany to perform his popular songs. The movie is packed with the ZAZ team's signature wordplay, visual gags, and absurd sense of humor. Kilmer is perfectly suited to the role of the hip-swinging singer, playing straight to the comic lunacy that surrounds him but also managing to get in plenty of comedic jabs himself.

4 'The Doors' (1991)

Directed by Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone's musical biopic of rock band The Doors has been subject to controversy since its release thanks to the liberties it takes with real events and how it depicted the late lead singer Jim Morrison. However, Kilmer's powerhouse performance has never been a part of that discussion. Not only is his resemblance to the late singer quite striking, but Kilmer also delivers one of the most poignant performances of his career.

Kilmer takes on the mythic Morrison with extreme commitment and even does his own singing. It's one of his most fully transformative performances that generally ranks highly in his career but is dragged down by the uneven film that surrounds it. Stone is known as a director with extreme highs and lows in his career, and The Doors falls somewhere in between. Still, many of its best moments are all thanks to Kilmer, to the point where one might call him the film's saving grace.

3 'Heat' (1995)

Directed by Michael Mann

Michael Mann's must-watch crime epic Heat is one of the most influential heist films of all time. From top to bottom, it has a stacked cast of performers, and while most of the press attention the film received at the time focused on the collaboration between leads Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, Kilmer is still a key part of its ensemble with an emotional subplot that helps anchor the entire film.

Kilmer plays a member of De Niro's elite team of professional thieves. He has more personal stakes, thanks to a wife and child at home, whom he later has to abandon after a job goes wrong. Kilmer is in top form and holds his own against the heavyweight De Niro, but his character is far from the focus of the sprawling crime saga. Thankfully, Kilmer doesn't try to give a lead performance but instead melds well with the rest of the ensemble, further enhancing this crime masterpiece.

2 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (2005)

Directed by Shane Black

Famed screenwriter Shane Black's directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a neo-noir black comedy that features many of his trademarks, including a Christmas setting and a dynamic duo at the center of its mystery. Kilmer fills out half of that duo as private investigator Perry van Shrike, who has been hooked up with Robert Downey Jr.'s thief-turned-would-be actor as a mentor. The two then quickly become involved in a twisty plot involving a corpse and various Hollywood has-beens and wannabes.

Kilmer and Downey have terrific chemistry, and both deliver Black's banter with ease. While the film wasn't a success, it did help lead to a career resurgence for Downey, but unfortunately, the same didn't occur for Kilmer, who continued to struggle in lesser productions before headlining direct-to-video releases. It's a shame because Kilmer's breezy performance proves he hadn't lost any of his innate charm, and it helped make the movie one of the very best Christmas noir treats.

1 'Tombstone' (1993)

Directed by George P. Cosmatos

Tombstone takes a mythic approach to the legendary Wyatt Earp and his compatriots. It's become an iconic Western filled with fantastic acting, but Kilmer, as Doc Holliday, gives the best performance. His turn as the tuberculosis-stricken Holliday is the kind of supporting performance that completely overshadows the lead role, which is no mean feat considering Kurt Russell's performance as Earp is one of his best as well.

Kilmer simply doesn't hit a wrong note in this performance. His chemistry with Russell crackles, and he delivers line after line of memorable dialogue with a Whiskey-soured sensibility. Despite a decent box office performance and reviews that all singled out Kilmer's performance as a highlight, the actor never received any real awards recognition for the role. That oversight has since been overpowered by the long-lasting legacy that the movie, with Kilmer's performance continuing to grow many years since.

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