Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers was one of many early scripts written by video store clerk Quentin Tarantino.  Influenced by Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands, Tarantino repeatedly tried to get the movie made.  He never intended to direct it himself but rather to have his friend Rand Vossler do so.  After failing to get the project off the ground it was shelved and Tarantino eventually made his directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs. 

However, Oliver Stone took a liking to the story and bought it.  Much to Tarantino's chagrin he completely rewrote it with some help from others.  Where the original focused on journalist Wayne Gale, Stone made mass murderers Mickey and Mallory Knox the focus and presented the movie as an ultraviolent satire on how the mainstream media turns serial killers into folk heroes.  Despite its creator's dislike for what the story became, and controversy over whether or not Stone was celebrating violence rather than condemning it, Natural Born Killers evolved into a unique and singular piece of art.

Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) are a pair of mass murderers that delight in showing up at a place and murdering everyone except for one person they leave to tell the tale.  Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.) is the host of American Maniacs, a sensationalist television show that does lurid re-enactments of the crimes of numerous serial killers.  Det. Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore) is a popular author and lawman, positioning himself as just the man to bring in America's worst killers.  

Mickey comes from an abusive family while Mallory suffered physical and sexual abuse from her father (Rodney Dangerfield).  The pair go off on their spree after Mickey escapes prison and kills Mallory's parents.  They find what they do fun, although cracks begin to show in their relationship when Mickey occasionally prefers female hostages and, at one point, they accidentally kill the wrong person.  That mistake leads to their capture but, even behind bars, they retain a following, one that Gale hopes to exploit for his own gain.  However, their very presence at Batongaville Prison has caused tension among the prisoners and guards, something that warden McCluskey (Tommy Lee Jones) hopes Scagnetti just may be able to take care of for him as the duo are transferred to a mental hospital.

The story is pretty simple although, in typical Oliver Stone style, it's made a lot more complicated than it needs to be.  It has always been a point of contention I have with Oliver Stone films.  He has no concept of subtlety and often gets in the way of telling a compelling story by piling on bits to fit a political agenda or add some spiritual element that doesn't enhance anything.  Although he obviously has talent as a writer and filmmaker many of his pretentions make me not want to revisit the movies I have seen by him or, with movies like JFK or Nixon, never see them at all.

With that said everything that Stone normally does wrong works in Natural Born Killers.  In rewriting Tarantino's script he left a lot of gaps to be filled and Stone does this with fast cuts, stock footage, rear-projection scenes, clips from commercials and old movies and using everything from 8mm film stock to security camera footage to tell his tale.  At worst it looks and feels like an extended music video, but at best he manages to do what Peter Greenaway was going for in his denser films and succeeds.  There is obviously some influence from David Lynch here as well, particularly scenes that reminded me of Wild at Heart.

The whole point of the film is to overwhelm the viewer's senses so they become numb and, of course, Stone has an agenda as usual.  It is that we have become numb to violence in society due to media proliferation and glorification on the news.  This is hammered home by real-life scenes that were contemporary at the time of O. J. Simpson, the Menendez Brothers and Tanya Harding.  Again, he is not subtle, but the approach works in context of the ultraviolent world Stone has created.  The problem is the impact is mostly there the first time through.  Natural Born Killiers is worth multiple viewings - I noticed the appearance of a key character earlier in this film in a manner which may explain some things - but the full impact is best experienced the first time through. 

Unfortunately, the point was lost on most people, as this was still at a time where video games were becoming more realistic and coming under fire for violence and rap, metal and punk albums were still having labels slapped on them.  The false narrative that seeing violence would trigger normal people to commit violence was still being perpetrated, and indeed Stone and Warner Bros. were sued when Natural Born Killers was blamed for killings, although those suits were eventually thrown out.  The delivery method of media may be different today but many of the points the movie brings up are still valid, although I can't see that it would be any less controversial if made today.

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Time: 119 minutes

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downy Jr., Tom Sizemore, Tommy Lee Jones

Director: Oliver Stone