Review of Natural Born Killers (1994) by Melvin W — 26 Dec 2011

Mickey: The media is like the weather, only it's man-made weather. .

"The Media Made Them Superstars.".

Oliver Stone went way over the top to make his point with Natural Born Killers and I believe it worked. This experience is unlike any other film experience you have had. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis bring Mickey and Mallory to life in such a way where it is hard to not cheer for them, and I assume that was the point. We always make the serial killers and the mass murders celebrities. We may not think of that way, but we do. .

Until killers are caught in America, we read about them in newspaper, magazines and we hear about them on tv. Then they are caught, but it doesn't die there. We then watch their trial, talk about their body language, listen to interviews. Then they are sent to prison, but it still isn't done with. Then we have books written about them, movies made about them; television news programs go and do specials on the killer. It never ends until the killer dies, and even then they live on, like Elvis. And why? Because it is entertaining. Never have I been more aware of that then when watching Natural Born Killers. .

That is pretty much what Natural Born Killers is getting at. Stone shows random things like hippies talking about how great Mickey and Mallory are. He shows us magazines with Mickeys face on the front cover. Killers are sold to us and we keep buying. Then there is the television show that turns them into full fledged stars and want to make television history by exploiting their story. This has all happened and it continues to happen.

Now I personally don't care if serial killers are getting a large amount of press. It's a natural human tendency to be entertained by violence. Throughout history, violence has always sold. It doesn't matter what time period you lived in or where you lived; violence was always talked about, written about or nowadays shown on television and in movies. That's never going to change. So as the saying goes, "If you can't beat em, join em.".