Review of Natural Born Killers (1994) by Anders H — 21 Oct 2010

Oliver Stone is one of those directors who just really knows how to make a movie controversial and how to piss people off in the process. This film is very controversial and possibly his most controversial film to date. Itâ(TM)s violent, trippy, and weird, over the top and just one of the most out there movies I have ever seen in my life and I have seen David Lynch movies. Itâ(TM)s definitely not a film for everyone except for experimental moviegoers like myself. When you watch this film be warned, it will blow you away and it will chill you to the bone.

Oliver Stone is one of my favourite directors and he has had a very good streak of amazing films. Amazing films that consist of Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street, JFK and Nixon. He also wrote Scarface for Christ sake while dealing with a cocaine problem. He fought in Vietnam and has won medals and has three Academy Awards in his collection for Midnight Express (For which he wrote the screenplay), Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. I mean this guy is a powerhouse director. He is one of the directors that showâ(TM)s what America really is and his early films really show what America was in that time. Now with Natural Born Killers he shows what the 90s generation of America was like. In this film he shows us where we are and where we are going.

Oliver Stone and two other guys base the movie on a Quentin Tarantino script that got heavily re-written. Quentin got only a story credit for the film. The dialogue at times does have that Tarantinoesque element to it that makes his films really good. The movie starts off in a diner in the middle of the American desert where a massacre takes place by a murderous and twisted married couple Mickey and Mallory Knox played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. They kill everyone except for one man who is left alive to tell the tale of Mickey and Mallory Knox. The film basically follows them as they go across America leaving bodies in their wake and gaining massive media attention represented by News Mogul Wayne Gale played by Robert Downey Jr who follows his story on his TV show American Maniacs. They are then finally caught after killing at least 50 people and are sent to jail. A year passes and the third part of the film takes place in a prison run by Warden Dwight McClusky. He is a foul mouthed and temperamental with an unappealing appearance that loathes the prisoners he oversees. Wayne Gale comes to the prison and asks if he can interview Mickey and Mickey agrees. The interview is very much a reference to the Geraldo Rivera interview of the famous serial killer Charlie Manson. But during the interview, it sparks a prison riot and Mickey uses this as an opportunity to get his wife Mallory with the help of Wayne Gale. This is kind of the basic plot and sorry that I gave away details but its not really the plot that makes this film memorable but it is the way Oliver Stone films it and the symbolism that is hidden in it.

Roger Ebert in his review of this film once said that you watch this film for the experience but then watch it again for what the hell it means. The first time I watched it was like an acid trip and like a really trippy version of Arthur Pennâ(TM)s Bonnie and Clyde and Terence Malickâ(TM)s Badlands. When you watch it again you kind of notice a few things. It is shot in a very frenzied and psychedelic style. It consists of Black and White, animation, unusual colour schemes, and a wide array of different camera angles, filters, lenses and special effects. The film is done a really weird way because much of the movie is told via parodies of television shows and sitcoms. At many moments there are adverts for Coco Cola, which is kind of weird but kind of cool. Television does frequently appear a lot throughout the film including real television sets and images. An example of this is a spoof of crappy American Sitcoms by showing Malloryâ(TM)s family life like a sitcom e.g. I Love Lucy or Married with Children. This bit is very dark as she is abused by her father and made fun of and they have audience laughter over all the moments where Mallory is made fun or sexually abused by her father. This bit is near the beginning of the film and is the only part of the film, which I donâ(TM)t like because it is a bit silly. Snakes feature a lot and give a lot of symbolism in knowledge and wisdom. These are the kinds of things that feature that make this film all the more brilliant and controversial.

The performances are pretty good in this film. Woody Harrelson has that really creepy look and he plays Mickey in a scary and creepy kind of way. I think he is a very underrated actor. Juliette Lewis was one of the best things about the film. Her performance is brilliant and she is a really good actress. I would have a lot more respect for her if she were not a scientologist. Robert Downey Jr is a great actor and he plays Wayne Gale with such energy and charisma. I think along with Wonder Boys, Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man and A Scanner Darkly this is one of his best performances. I think he was on drugs half the time at this point but he really did give it his all in this film. Tommy Lee Jones is one of my favourite actors. He has such great screen presence and he completely plays against type as Warden Dwight McClusky. He steals the third act of the film and you wish he had more screen time. Tom Sizemore plays Jack Scagnetti. For all you Tarantino fans out there you should all remember the surname Scagnetti from Reservoir Dogs. He is just as twisted and psychotic as Mickey and Mallory are and Tom Sizemore does play him in a very twisted and evil and is probably the creepiest character in the film next to Rodney Dangerfield who plays Malloryâ(TM)s abusive father. All the performances were really good and over the top. It was kind of cool seeing the guy who gets his ear cut off in Reservoir Dogs in this film who plays one of Wayne Galeâ(TM)s crewmembers. Look out for him.

The film is necessarily not a road action movie. It is that but it is so much more then that. The film is basically a satire of 90s America. The film when you see it over and over again you begin to realise it is a satire on the media in America. America is just one of those places where the media is glorified by its people. People become obsessed with it and mostly people donâ(TM)t watch anything political or anything to do with what was going on at the time. America is a country obsessed by violence, murder and mayhem. This film did come out during the OJ Simpson trial when he was accused of killing his wife and lover. This film is very controversial because of this and also due to the fact that this film did spark real life serial killings. You know there is something wrong with the way people act in America when it comes to gun violence. If you watch Bowling for Columbine, Michael Mooreâ(TM)s documentary about gun violence in America you can see how gun nuts America is. People who like listen to a type of music or watch something on TV and sometimes it can influence you in the wrong way. Young kids especially due to the fact that young kids can be very much influenced by what they hear and see. The kids at Columbine probably were influenced in some way to kill all those people but will never know why they did what they did. Whether they did it because of all the abuse they got or because they just were crazy and influenced by violence. Kids are in danger and parents should protect them from such things.

Iâ(TM)m not forcing you to see this film but I think you should watch it at least once. Just so you know what it is like. If you liked it then go and watch it again. I have seen it three times and I think it is a great movie. Itâ(TM)s chilling, exciting and has a very dark sense of humour. If youâ(TM)re not into this sort of thing then fine go watch another film like Twilight or something. Well thatâ(TM)s the end of this review and I hope to bring you more. Goodbye and good luck.

A.H.