NATURAL BORN KILLERS
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman
NBK opens in a cafe cum gas station in an isolated part of a desert. While Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson) is sitting at the counter ordering, his girl friend, Mickey, (Juliette Lewis) turns on the juke box. Dressed in a tiny bra top and sexy tight-fitting clothes she does a little dance by herself. When three locals come in, one of them starts dancing with her but when he thinks he is going to make headway with her she suddenly kicks him in the groin and the whole place turns into a mass shootout. And that's just the first scene.
During the film we meet Mickey's father (Rodney Dangerfield) an abuser of his daughter; Robert Downey, Jr., as the host of a TV show, "American Maniacs" who will do anything for a story for his program; Tommy Lee Jones as a tough prison warden.
The pace of the movie is frantic. Frequently you cannot hear the dialogue ... everyone is shouting at once and the music is blaring ... but the "feel" of the film comes through. The idea is that the media hypes killers into notoriety and that there are enough idiots in this world who look up to the killers as if they were heroes.
All through the film there are quick flashes of predators such as a wolf, a polar bear, snakes: natural born killers.
Despite the total violence, none of it is for the sake of showing blood. It is an innate part of the story of killers without conscience. Except for the last scene which I found unreal, the movie is a spellbinder. Remember how enthralled everyone was watching TV while O. J. Simpson rode down the freeway with the police cars following and the helicopters overhead? Stone is not exaggerating and therein lies the strength of the film.
Exceptional acting by Juliette Lewis and Robert Downey, Jr. Harrelson is good, too, but Tommy Lee Jones got a little too hopped up in his role.
Directed by Oliver Stone.
3 bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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