Natural Born Killers (1994)

Thanks for the memories!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I wanted to like NBK, but the editing hurt some of it. My favorite scenes were with Robert Downey Jr as Wayne Gale. His satire was the most focused. I also couldn't tell if some of the violence was taken seriously or not.

This is a hectic movie that follows the criminal endeavors of Mickey and Mallory Knox, two lovers set on a killing spree through America, which led them to media stardom. This movie is filled with chaotic shots and angles, fast cuts, handheld and shaky cameras, psychedelic scenery and just insane visuals. The moral of the story focuses on how media creates stars out of the deranged and begs the question: who is a better being? the media or the criminals? It kind of reminds me, in a way, of what "A Clockwork Orange" asks us, the viewers. We have the criminal couple juxtaposed with the media people, inviting us into analyzing the traits that make both parties "horrible" and "evil", but the Knox's evil regards the cold blooded killing, whereas the media's evil regards the control over the population, feeding us lies and establishing zombiedom. Now, the main concerns that a lot of people have regarding this jewel are that "the production and filming are too blurry and shaky and fast paced", that Oliver Stone paints the same picture and asks the same question again and again throughout the movie and that it's just impossible to watch and too obnoxious. In my opinion, the production and the chaos of the movie are perfect in telling this story through the lens of the killers and through the lens of the masses. Everything is filled with adrenaline and I think that suits the movie really well, we are witnessing the madness live, unedited and raw, just like the husband/wife pair and the masses through the perspective of the media. And the thing with Oliver Stone's message being to obnoxiously thrown at the viewers, this movie does not consider itself mysterious in any way: it's not "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Holy Mountain" or "Inception", the message it's in your face, just like the couple and the media. This movie is fast, brutal and criminally insane.

A completely misrepresented work, cartoons effects and history confused, given that it was a Tarantino story, it would have been much better executed by him, the division into chapters would much more cohesive history, I was nauseated to watch just thinking on how it could have been. I hope very much a remake that honors the work original.

Goes on a bit. The suits who wanted to cut it down were on to something. It could have been shortened by about 25%. The violence ceased to be disturbing after a while. Screen violence is never really convincing, since one knows it is just a movie, and before long here it just washed over my head, and grew tedious. Only psychological torture actually hurts. The psychology here is limited to rather soppy romance, except in the case of Mallory's repulsive father, who got what was coming to him. The message of killing being naturally born was plain enough.Juliette Lewis was good in her part, and Woody Harrelson was OK in a less demanding role. However, Robert Downey Jnr, and the rest of the cast, when it came to the prison riot, were little more than a multiple pain in the neck. This was especially true of Downey and his twitchy face, which became exceedingly annoying and irritating. His would-be Australian accent seemed utterly pointless. The riot went on and on to no purpose, and while it may have entertained the public, when shown on television, it soon ceased to entertain me. The prolonged trippy, psychedelic style grew wearisome, as well. One watch, no more.