Review: Natural Born Killers (1994)

Directed by: Oliver Stone
Written by: David Veloz, Richard Rutowski and Oliver Stone
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore and Robert Downey Jr.

It's an unfortunate fact of reality. Violent movies are always gonna be the subject of controversy. Certain kinds of people are concerned they have a detrimental impact on the youth or they're a trigger for real-life criminal acts. Natural Born Killers is one of the more well-known titles out of the pile of extremely controversial, extremely violent flicks. Some even believe it to have influenced "copycat crimes" like the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre. Personally I reject these arguments on the basis that they're just part of a much larger moral panic from a mass of people that are over-sensitive and can't find the real answers. Although Quentin Tarantino wrote the original script, he condemned the heavily edited final result. I would have loved to see this original version, but I think Oliver Stone and his team managed to deliver a shocking and very thought-provoking film.

Mickey and Mallory Knox are in love, but they're no ordinary couple. After murdering Mallory's abusive parents, the pair go on a road trip across America killing almost everyone they come across. It doesn't take long for the media to start following their killing spree and exploiting it irresponsibly for a fascinated public that can't look away.

Oliver Stone isn't a stranger to making films with some kind of statement. Platoon was his way of showing the horror of his Vietnam War experience, JFK challenged the official narrative of the Kennedy assassination and Wall Street revealed the dangers of greed amid the 1980s yuppie culture. Natural Born Killers is Stone's way of answering whether it's nature or nurture that makes a killer all the while calling out the media for sensationalizing real-life tragedies for the sake of entertainment and ratings.

What becomes apparent first is that it isn't filmed in the most conventional way. It's highly stylized, making use of both satirical forms of presentation and a range of animated, digital and cinematographic effects. Clearly it was Stone's intention to create a film that resembled a series of TV programs as much as a consistent feature-length story. It's great at adding fuel to the script's incredibly dark sense of humor, but I think it works even more effectively by getting that visceral reaction to cinematic violence out of the viewer. It's not something from an action movie, and more intended to make us feel uncomfortable and thrilled at the same time. With all the carnage going on, I can't help but adore the unconventional love story of Mickey and Mallory (played excellently by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis). It's like Bonnie and Clyde on a mixture of adderall and shrooms. They're horrible people, yet we like them because we spend so much time with them and I think it's through that it answers its key question. We are drawn to violence because all people have some sort of natural disposition to it, but it's only a select few that take it to the extreme and become serial killers.

Natural Born Killers was named the the 8th most controversial movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly in 2006, and it's been subject to widespread bans and censorship. While I disagree with the control imposed on artists like this, it's unsurprising that many find this movie to be disturbing. It's chaotic, clever and the kind of entertainment the engages as much as it shocks.

My Rating: 8/10