Val Kilmer Gave One of His Best Performances in ‘The Salton Sea’

Last week, we lost a Hollywood star who could completely change the mood of the movie we would find him in. With his ravaging looks and golden smile, Val Kilmer had enough cinematic presence to become a reliable scene-stealer.

However, his work in the 2002 neo-noir thriller The Salton Sea was not based on his usual technique. It’s one of his few movies as the lead character, a man with a broken spirit who didn’t require Kilmer’s usually flamboyant style and instead had to run on the fuel that is pain and never-ending grief. It is also one of the late star’s best performances, and there’s no better time to revisit it than now.

The Salton Sea

Release Date

February 2, 2002

Runtime

103 minutes

Director

D. J. Caruso

What Is ‘The Salton Sea’ About?

The Salton Sea is a Tarantino-esque kind of noir that follows Danny Parker, a drug addict on meth who’s also an informant for two cops that do anything but protect and serve. Parker is trying to set a deal with a drug lord named Pooh Bear, who seems to own the entire meth operation (meth is referred to as “gak” in the film) in the area. But the speed freak also hides a secret beneath the long nights of using drugs with his friends: He was once a trumpet player whose wife was killed by robbers. He’s Tom Van Allen, and all he wants is to avenge the death of his wife.

The film then navigates toward a long final act where Van Allen’s ultimate plan is revealed. We won’t spoil it for you, as things get very complicated when it’s discovered that Van Allen is shown to be working for the FBI as well. The Salton Sea was written by Tony Gayton and directed by D.J. Caruso. Producers included Frank Darabont and TV star Eriq La Salle. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, and though critics liked it (it sits at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), the film bombed at the box office, making a little over $1 million from an $18 million production budget.

Val Kilmer’s Uncompromising Performance in ‘The Salton Sea’ Is Proof of His Range

Kilmer’s performance as Tom Van Allen/Danny Parker is impressive. It was one of the actor’s attempts at staying in the spotlight after disastrous movies like Red Planet and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Although the film often plays with its tone mashup of comedy and crime movie tropes, Kilmer’s role is grounded. It becomes essential to achieving balance amid the movie’s twisty and sometimes messy narrative.

The Salton Sea could have been a post-Requiem for a Dream feature that repeated the same message as its predecessor. And while Caruso explores psychedelia with a few nightmarish sequences, it doesn’t drift away from its main storyline: It’s a thriller about immeasurable pain being the force that drives Van Allen to pursue the purest form of revenge in a world infested with drug-fueled monsters. The emotionally complex performance by one of the best actors of his generation forces the movie to never spiral out of control with its unique depiction of the drug underworld.

Kilmer’s performance is not the only outstanding one in the movie. The cast is impressive, with B.D. Wong, Adam Goldberg, Peter Sarsgaard, and Luis Guzmán delivering noteworthy performances that will stay with you. However, it’s Vincent D’Onofrio’s role as Pooh-Bear that shines above the rest. The Daredevil star is as great as ever, playing an erratic villain with a memorable look. He lacks a nose, as he snorted so much gak that it fell off. This renders him physically awkward, but he compensates enough with a sociopathic attitude that’s very unsettling.

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The Salton Sea may not have had the best result at the box office, but it certainly deserves another chance 23 years later. 2002 was the year of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, Attack of the Clones, and The Two Towers — all behemoths in the land of franchises. Thrillers like The Salton Sea were excellent but didn’t get the same attention as some of the year’s highest-grossing films. Thrillers, and especially bleak ones like The Salton Sea, felt a bit out of place as the nation was still recovering from a horrific terrorist attack, and audiences preferred features that allowed escapism over realistic crime films.

Regardless, give yourself the chance to see the jarringly sad but bizarrely uplifting neo-noir The Salton Sea. Kilmer’s smile could cure the blues every rainy day, even if it was in a thriller that often steps on nihilism, goes heavy on the psychedelic, and has one of the best villains of 2002. The Salton Sea is available to rent on Apple TV, Google Play, and Prime Video.