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106 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Violence as a media event, February 18, 2000
"Natural Born Killers" is not about glorifying violence; it's a chilling parody of the American fascination with violence. The quick changes from color to black and white and back again, interspersed with animated sequences, point up the satiric nature of the movie.
Mickey and Mallory, very well played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, are two killing machines without heart or soul or conscience; their only redeeming virtues are their love for each other. They aren't meant to be sympathetic characters and they're not, but Oliver Stone's direction makes them pale in depravity besides some of the other characters -- the sadistic warden, the despicable detective and his morbid fascination with Mallory, Mallory's nauseating, sexually abusive father, and above all, Robert Downey's superb characterization of the media pimp who feeds off blood and gore.
The last scene in the movie, of Mickey and Mallory on the road with their two children, and Mallory about to deliver a third at any minute, underscores the whole message of the film; violence feeds on itself and begets yet more violence. Those viewers who were most upset by the movie missed its message. "Natural Born Killers" is a brilliant, disturbing depiction of the shallowness of American culture at the end of the 20th century.
Judy Lind
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece. Brilliantly Nightmarish And Thought-Provoking, October 18, 1999
Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" is not just a movie, it is an experience. It is a wild, dark ride that serves as a study of today's culture and it's fascination with violence. This movie is not so much about the killers, but about how the killers capture the public. The screenplay is masterfully structured with moments of vicious rage, deepness, dark comedy and powerful visual images. The film is hypnotically watchable due to the great mixing of different film formats, camera angles, colors and the breathtaking cinematography of Robert Richardson. "Natural Born Killers" is a great study of where our culture is going. Stone is a genius of cinema, one of the greatest directors there has ever been. This movie is effective, provocative, feverish and driven. It's electrifying. In fact, it's not as violent as you may think it is. It's the break neck speed it goes at and it's intense feeling. "Natural Born Killers" is both intense and brilliantly nightmarish. It's disturbing, as it should be. This serves as a slap on America's face, to wake it up. "Natural Born Killers" is a masterpiece, as Roger Ebert said: "Seeing this movie once is not enough."
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatest Movie of the Nineties, December 1, 1999
Natural Born Killers is easily the best movie to come out of this decade. It is surreal, highly intelligent, sarcastic, and like the Exorcist, seems to have some kind of power beneath the simple plot. The actors and actresses all perform perfectly as their characters, Tommy Lee Jones rightly over-the-top, and Woody Harrelson a subtle, evil Mickey Knox. The cinematography is simply amazing, pure amped beauty, the psychological screens behind the action, the desert, and my god, the violence of the riot... perfect. There's something going on in every sceen of the movie, like Owen at the beginning in the diner, or pictures of Mallory's father when she's with the gas station attendant. The movie was deep (sorry about the cliche) like in the whole Native American sceen where the word "demon" and "too much t.v." flash on the muderers chests. Later in the movie we hear more explictily about the demon in Mickey's amazing television interview with Wayne Gayle. But the main reason about why is movie is what it is and somehow more, is its message. It isn't subtle about it either. The media has gotten way too important, fed itself fat on society's rich blood, and yet we scream for more, we want our blood sucked. Every day our lives are permeated with violence, violence in movies, television, the news, and we crave it. Natural Born Killers was a wake up call, and a choatic brilliant one at that, turning a warped mirror around and pointing it at the audience. You see those people worshipping Mickey and Mallory at the outside the court sceen, that is us, that is who we are, and this movie tries to get us to wake up and see that.
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