Review of Natural Born Killers (1994) by Muktashif D — 17 Mar 2011

Still every bit the masterpiece it was 17 years ago, this shocking satire (as good satire SHOULD be) is a massive trip from start to finish, employing every filmic technique and format you could think of (and not just for the sake of it), one minute trance-like, the next nauseating (eg green employed to reflect sickness).

NBK was arguably prescient in it's depiction of commercialism, sensationalism, and glorification of violence and violent offenders, but is at it's core a love story, albeit a twisted one.

This film uses music better than arguably any movie I can think of, even Tarantino (whose early script NBK was based on, though he distanced himself from it due to significant liberties taken with it). At the sublime moments when L7's "Sh*tlist" and Nine Inch Nails' beautiful "A Warm Place" kick in, I get goosebumps every time (but that NIN track does that to me all the time to be fair). The music and the ending sequence of shots are sheer perfection, as is the start of the film, one of the best opening sequences for a film in recent memory.

The performances are all stellar, with Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Sizemore and Rodney Dangerfield in fantastic over-the-top scenery-chewing mode throughout, which could cripple other films but work perfectly here, and Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis perfectly balance being terrifying and likable, often at the same time!

Love this movie :-).