Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers: Directed by Oliver Stone. With Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Rodney Dangerfield. Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

“I remember u0026quot;Natural Born Killersu0026quot; making a huge fuss when it was released because the media and conservative families were in an outrage over the level of u0026quot;glorified violenceu0026quot; in the film. To some extent they were right — the violence isnu0026#39;t glorified but much of it is unnecessary. The movie could still be a brilliant satire of society/the media without going into such graphic detail — itu0026#39;s been proved in cinema before that sometimes seeing less is better than gratuity. If Oliver Stoneu0026#39;s movie has one outstanding flaw, itu0026#39;s the lack of subtlety.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat said, if you can handle the level of violence and take it tongue-in-cheek, u0026quot;Natural Born Killersu0026quot; is so bizarre and funny that itu0026#39;s worth the u0026quot;trip.u0026quot; (Pun intended.) This is a crazy drug odyssey that would have made Hunter S. Thompson look like Ronald Reagan. The film is twisted, outlandish and out of its mind — Oliver Stone has gone stone-cold crazy and itu0026#39;s awesome.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDespite my reservations about his lack of subtlety, there is a flip side to the coin: It is a story about excess. Stoneu0026#39;s film-making has gone somewhat awry over the years (look at the pointless excess of his films after this), but this fits the bill because it IS a story of excess.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWoody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play the titular u0026quot;Natural Born Killers,u0026quot; Mickey and Mallory, a pair of crazy serial killers who both suffered traumatic childhoods and are now rampaging America on a literal killing spree.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAfter they are finally apprehended, the media has by now turned them into such icons and glorified personalities that the public and media seems to respect them as titans of filth.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is where the social satire of the film comes into play, essentially saying: We focus more on the killers than the heroes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI do think itu0026#39;s a bit hypocritical of Oliver Stone to attempt to point this out, as he is a die-hard liberal at his core and, as the controversy surrounding this filmu0026#39;s release proved, the conservatives are too conservative to praise killers. It seems to be the liberal media that glorifies violence (to some extent of course) so I thought Stone would be the last person to ever criticize the media.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo yes it does come across as somewhat of a moot point but nevertheless the film is still enjoyable despite its sometimes sickening amount of over-the-top violence (the opening sequence of the Directoru0026#39;s Cut is stomach-turning).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe cast is superb – Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Edie McClurg (the rental car agent from u0026quot;Planes, Trains and Automobilesu0026quot; and Rooneyu0026#39;s assistant in u0026quot;Ferris Buelleru0026quot;!) and Denis Leary and Ashley Judd in deleted scenes included in the Directoru0026#39;s Cut.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story was conceived by Quentin Tarantino (and itu0026#39;s very similar to his u0026quot;True Romanceu0026quot; script — a sort of modern-day u0026quot;Bonnie and Clyde Reduxu0026quot;) and re-written by Stone (much to the chagrin of QT). Iu0026#39;m not sure which would have made for a better film but, despite its flaws (which are mainly a none-too-subtle message and too much violence), u0026quot;Natural Born Killersu0026quot; is a sort of bizarre, outlandish masterpiece of drugged-out cinema. –“