NATURAL BORN KILLERS
A film review by Raymond Johnston
Copyright 1994 Raymond Johnston
Dir: Oliver Stone Starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr. Tommy Lee Jones, Rodney Dangerfield A Regency Film distributed by Warner Bros.
Oliver Stone's new film is a nonstop barrage of pop cultures' images. Like a two-hour rock video, the film switches from grainy black and white, hand held home color, wavy video transfer, and professional 35mm film. Each medium brings with it its own way of contemplating the story. Mallory's (Juliette Lewis) abusive childhood is presented on video with a laugh track. Her wedding to serial killer Mickey (Woody Harrelson) is in home movie color. Their spree across the West is presented as a bad movie; they sit in a prop car in front of an undisguised rear screen projector showing stock footage of different roads. Some scenes even include their own commercials. Other scenes simulate switching channels with a remote and landing on the story of Mickey and Mallory, the murdering couple who take the place of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe in the hearts of 90s youth.
While this technique of story telling is functional and sometimes interesting, director Stone's choice of making the actors play their lines for broad comedy is less successful. Harrelson and Lewis manage to pull off their sneering cynicism because it is pretty much in character. Rodney Dangerfield's father character manages to parody the "Father Knows Best" cliches and has a laugh track. Tommy Lee Jones as the warden, Stephen Wright as the psychiatrist, Robert Downey Jr. as the tabloid reporter all fall flat when they mug their lines and consciously over emote. As a surrealistic comedy (or perhaps parody of a comedy) about the callousness and sickness of modern society NATURAL BORN KILLERS does not succeed.
In his scatter shot approach, there are other levels to the film. As a social commentary on the media the film is a little better. It is difficult to have sympathy for the media characters who prey on the same carcasses as the serial killers. The fans of Mickey and Mallory strike a much more realistic note considering the fans of recent tabloid criminals.
Besides using a variety of filming styles and techniques, Stone cuts in a variety of stock footage from everything from "Leave It to Beaver" to THE WILD BUNCH. Music in the soundtrack is also diverse and supportive, including everything from Jane's Addiction to Leonard Cohen. Among all these sounds and images, Mickey and Mallory fit right in. The problem with the film is that all too often they get lost in the mix.
Juliette Lewis plays a similar role in last year's KALIFORNIA, a similar and more coherent film, if a less adventurous one. Two other serial killer couple films worth checking out on tape are THE HONEYMOON KILLERS with Tony LoBianco and BADLANDS with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.
NATURAL BORN KILLERS was edited to receive an R rating.
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