Natural Born Killers (1994) Warner Bros./Comedy-Drama RT: 122 minutes Unrated Version extreme violence and graphic carnage, shocking images, strong language and sexual content) Director: Oliver Stone Screenplay: Richard Rutowski, Oliver Stone and David Veloz Music: Brent Lewis Cinematography: Robert Richardson Release date: August 26, 1994 (US) Cast: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Robert Downey Jr., Rodney Dangerfield, Edie McClurg, Everett Quinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Russell Means, Balthazar Getty, Kirk Baltz, Steven Wright, Joe Grifasi, O-Lan Jones, James Gammon, Arliss Howard. Box Office: $50.3M (US)
Rating: ****
One of the most controversial films ever made, I think Natural Born Killers is absolutely brilliant. On the surface, it’s about two romantically involved criminals on a crime spree across the American Southwest. From that description, it sounds like Bonnie and Clyde and while Mickey and Mallory Knox are definitely anti-establishment symbols, it’s the only trait they share with the bank robbing couple of Arthur Penn’s 1967 film.
As indicated by the title, Mickey (Harrelson, Indecent Proposal) and Mallory (Lewis, Kalifornia) are killers. They’re killers of the psychopathic kind. They do it for the sheer love of blood and mayhem not money or material gain. Oh, and fame. Mickey and Mallory are fame hounds which brings me to my next point about Natural Born Killers. It’s not just a violent crime drama; it’s a satire of how the media elevates criminals like Mickey and Mallory to hero status. By the 90s, the TV viewing public was obsessed with crime and scandal. It became a bigger national pastime than baseball. Thanks to 24-hour news channels and Court TV, people followed crime stories like they were soap operas. Natural Born Killers came out just months after the OJ Simpson murder story first broke. It was all people could talk about that summer. There’s no way Oliver Stone could have predicted it but it’s a perfect real life illustration of the point he’s trying to make with his film.
In addition, Natural Born Killers is an insightful commentary on how we receive information. Once again, TV is the culprit. We are a society raised on sitcoms, movies, cartoon and music videos. All forms of visual entertainment were defined by quick-cut editing and other flashy camera trickery. It was shaped to fit the short attention span mentality that had taken over. So it is that Stone is all over the map stylistically. He uses black and white, color, rear projection, animation, film, video, 8mm, 35mm and newsreels. He tells Mallory’s backstory of sexual abuse at the hands of her monstrous father (Dangerfield, Back to School) in the style of a sitcom replete with laugh track. He’s saying this is what we’ve become as a society. We are desensitized to terrible things to the point where they’re entertainment. It’s become less real to us.
In terms of plot, there’s not too much of one really. The first half follows Mickey and Mallory on their murder spree. In the opening scene, they kill several people in a diner leaving just one survivor to tell what went down. They’re being pursued by Detective Jack Scagnetti (Sizemore, True Romance), a cop/author with psychological issues of his own. They reach the end of the road after they kill a kindly Native American (Means, The Last of the Mohicans) who tries to help them.
The second half, set one year later, finds them in prison where self-serving trash journalist Wayne Gale (Downey, Chaplin), host of a Hard Copy-type show, is set to interview Mickey. Meanwhile, Scagnetti goes to visit Mallory in her cell. The pair is scheduled for transfer to a psychiatric hospital as per the orders of the warden, Dwight McClusky (Jones, The Fugitive), who likes to run an orderly prison. He can’t do that with the Knoxes murdering guards and other inmates. Naturally, a riot breaks out which aids M&M in an escape attempt. Much carnage and mayhem ensues.
That, of course, is an overview of Natural Born Killers. A lot happens over the course of two hours but I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it. It’s best if you experience it for yourself. That’s right, I said experience. You don’t just watch Natural Born Killers, you experience it. And let me tell you, it is raw and visceral. It’s highly stylized, shocking and frequently funny. The soundtrack, like the visuals, is all over the place. Music constantly plays. It’s a hodge-podge of different songs; it’s like changing the dial on the car radio. There are several Leonard Cohen tunes, something that made me happy.
Natural Born Killers boasts two great lead performances. Harrelson shows his dangerous, menacing side as a sociopath who can be charming one minute and ugly the next. Lewis gives one of her best performances as a damaged girl with only slightly more humanity than her partner. The two actors have phenomenal chemistry. They’re the quintessential couple that should not be together. They love each other, that’s never in doubt. Each is dangerous on his or her own but most dangerous when combined. Downey, who affects a perfect Australian accent (it makes him sound even slimier), is great as the TV journalist who puts ratings over small matters like safety and common sense. He embodies everything that’s ugly about 90s journalism. Jones goes over the top for his portrayal of a prison official who takes great delight in the 15 minutes of fame offered him by the whole M&M situation. Sizemore is just as bonkers as the cocky cop who might have met his match with Mallory.
What I remember most about Natural Born Killers playing in theaters is the number of people that walked out on it. A buddy from the local multiplex told me about all the older couples that showed up expecting Bonnie and Clyde only to leave when they realized it wasn’t that at all. Management finally had to place a warning sign at the box office window explaining that no refunds would be offered after the first 20 minutes.
I can understand why Natural Born Killers wouldn’t appeal to all tastes. I love it. It’s one of Stone’s best films. What’s even more amazing is that it’s based on an original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, one that was heavily revised by Stone and his co-writers Richard Rutowski and David Veloz. Wouldn’t it be interesting if QT directed it himself? It would have been an entirely, not necessarily better, movie. In any event, I like Natural Born Killers just as it is. It’s just as relevant today as it was in ’94. It’s still one of my favorites.
