Review 300: Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers is a hopeless miscalculation of epic proportions. A film so violent, ugly, disgusting, grotesque, jarring and mean spirited that I think audiences would be more frightened and traumatised than be entertained and feel as if they have learnt something.

The film follows two people: a man and a woman named Mickey and Mallory (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) who are victims of traumatic and abusive childhoods who become lovers and go roaming around the U.S. killing people and are in turn, glorified by the mass media.

The plot is just disturbing, implausible and appalling-the idea of two young people who enjoy murder is a hard pill to swallow whatever its message. It tries to comment on how mass media influences people and how violent a country America can be and fails miserably.

I realise that some critics, movie-goers and film historians might like this film on an innovative, technical and satirical level but not me. Watching this film proved a jarring, traumatic and highly unpleasant experience, a film so bad I feel like not putting this review on record.

Onto the subject of violence, this is one of the most violent films I’ve ever seen. It’s so gross and over-the-top I feel people would cringe and be scared by it. Though based on research I can conclude that was writer/director Oliver Stone’s intent to show how we as people respond to it and in response to that I am completely lost for words.

On a style level, Natural Born Killers is overloaded with so many different techniques e.g. black and white footage, coloured footage, animation as well as using a wide range of camera angles (Dutch angles where the camera is tilted to one side), filters, lenses and special effects (mainly for the scenes with Mickey and Mallory’s hallucinations). The film is also told using parodies of television shows including scenes showing Mallory’s upbringing that are presented in the style of a sitcom about a dysfunctional family called “I Love Mallory” which is based on the original “I Love Lucy” show.

Director Stone feels the need to force all these styles onto the viewer and the result is a jarring, highly un-entertaining experience that gives you the idea of what it feels like to have an agonisingly uncomfortable ride on a bumpy track.

Stone tries to use all these techniques to show how the media can influence our lives but that message is not told well, it comes across as too “in your face” and the message ultimately becomes lost and drowned in a sea of violence and technical aspects that just get tiring to watch.

Oliver Stone’s direction is atrocious, the soundtrack is excruciating – an uncomfortable mish mash of hard rock and pop which strains your senses and leaves you desperate for some kind of medication. The killing scenes are so overproduced, they’re almost unbearable to watch. The editing is frantic (though I will say it mirrors a killer’s personality), the effects for the gunfights fall flat, the cinematography is flashy and not up DP Rob Richardson usual standards. Every shot is glamorised and glossed over with this Hollywood-esque glorification, the costumes are cheap, the production design is shallow and doesn’t leave a big impact.

The locations however are pretty appealing and the make up for the blood of the victim looks really authentic.

Actingwise, Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr and Tommy Lee Jones don’t give bad performances as such, they’re just saddled with these horrifically insane, unlikeable and unrelatable characters and poor direction that they can’t rise to any amounts of greatness.

Oliver Stone has written and directed some really good films in the past e.g. Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon, etc but Natural Born Killers ain’t one of his bright spots, 1/5.

The Anonymous Critic.