Natural Born Killers (1994)

	Directed by: Oliver Stone	COUNTRY USA GENRE Crime/Action/Romance NORWEGIAN TITLE Natural Born Killers RUNNING TIME 119 minutes
	Produced by: Jane Hamsher Don Murphy Clayton Townsend
	Written by (based on a story by Quentin Tarantino): David Veloz Richard Rutowski Oliver Stone

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Mickey Knox	Woody Harrelson
Mallory Wilsin Knox	Juliette Lewis
Wayne Gale	Robert Downey Jr.	½
Detective Jack Scagnetti	Tom Sizemore	½
Warden Dwight McClusky	Tommy Lee Jones
Ed Wilson	Rodney Dangerfield	-
Mrs. Wilson	Edie McClurg	-
Kevin Wilson	Sean Stone	-
Warren Red Cloud	Russell Means	-
David	Evan Handler	-
Gas station attendant	Balthazar Getty	-
Dr. Emil Reingold	Steven Wright	-
Deputy Warden Kavanaugh	Pruitt Taylor Vince	-
Deputy Sheriff Duncan Homolka	Joe Grifasi	-
Dale Wrigley	Dale Dye	-

Review

Oliver Stone’s satirical misfire about the serial killers and lovebirds Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) prompted a mixed reception and a fair bit of controversy upon its release in 1994. Through his in-your-face aesthetic, Stone wanted to juxtapose his protagonists’ propensity for violence with everything from childhood sexual abuse to celebrity-style media coverage of criminals. It was a potentially noble idea, apart from the fact that the film itself is equally enamoured with its violence. Also, the linking of violent crime and media frenzy is a convention that lacks scientific merit and therefore the satirical edge proposed by the film. Seen today, Natural Born Killers stands as a curiously dated and ineffectual message movie – the retarded offspring of Bonnie and Clyde, if you will. Stone’s stylistic antics are so superfluous and oftentimes arbitrary that they come off as desperate. And much of his messaging is so extravagant and clichéd (snakes, spiritual Indians) that it becomes a distraction instead of an effective device. There may well be a compelling story about love and doomed fates buried in here – which I suspect the original writer of the story, Quentin Tarantino, would have been able to convey – but it is completely lost in Stone’s muddle.