In celebration of its 15th Anniversary and because the distribution of the director’s cut reverted back to Warner Brothers, a new release of Natural Born Killers is now available. Based on a story from Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone tells the tale of serial killers Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) as a way to comment on problems with 1990s American society, such as violence, the justice system and the media.
The tone is set immediately as the couple is introduced in a diner that quickly explodes into an orgy of violence, so over the top it is cartoonish, as is the frenetic way the scene is shot, constantly shifting perspectives and formats. It should be immediately obvious with its black humor that Natural Born Killers is a satire. Tragically, not everyone has comprehended this and a few have used it to excuse their deadly actions, unwittingly proving some of the film’s points.
Natural Born Killers is also a love story. We see the characters Mickey and Mallory meet, and after he escapes jail, Mickey, who suffered emotional damage as a young child, helps Mallory escape her father’s abuse. The two head out into the world, making their own rules of right and wrong as they go. In turn, the world can’t get enough of their exploits thanks in part to journalist Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.), host/producer/director of American Maniacs.
Mickey and Mallory are eventually captured, tried, and sent to jail. After a year passes, they are declared insane and are to be transported to a mental hospital. This doesn’t sit well with Warden Dwight McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones) and he plans with Detective Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore), a psychopath himself, to have the couple killed. Meanwhile, Gale sets up a jailhouse interview with Mickey to take place after the Super Bowl. It enflames the other prisoners and a riot breaks out. The ensuing chaos provides opportunities for Mickey and Mallory’s escape as well as their death.
Natural Born Killers is an amazing, visceral overload. Cinematographer Robert Richardson and his team do a brilliant job bringing Stone’s, at times hallucinogenic, vision to the screen. The sound and music departments are fantastic in the way they use music and blend pieces together to evoke moods. If you enjoy the film, you have to get the Trent Reznor-supervised soundtrack. High marks also go to the actors who fully commit to their roles.
Article comments
1 - Mal
In my last class at the New York Film School I mentioned I thought this was the very worst movie of all time and it got voted for that title by a third of the class.
2 - El Bicho
well, you and your classmates are entitled to be wrong.