NATURAL BORN KILLERS
A film review by Nizam Ahmed
Copyright 1995 Nizam Ahmed
NATURAL BORN KILLERS was released in Britain in January and is shortly to get its video release. However, considering the hooplah of publicity it received concerning the subject matter, and the new tough stance on violence by the British Board of Film Classification, it may not be released at all. RESERVOIR DOGS took two years to appear on the small screen, so things don't bode well for Oliver Stone's relentless depiction of two serial killers on the rampage.
The film purports to be a bizarre, twisted look at the life and killings of Mickey & Mallory Knox, and in particular attempts to concentrate on the media feeding frenzy that turns them into prime-time TV celebrities. We see how they got together in a brilliant parody of US TV sitcoms, seen through the broken memory of Mallory (Juliette Lewis). Their killing spree down the highways of the midwest is documented from th point of view of top-rated docudrama American Psychos, fronted by a manic Robert Downy Jr. We see their downfall and imprisonment at the hands of an obsessed cop who's just as twisted as the prey he hunts, and an amazing climax that stokes up the excitement to boiling point.
Oliver Stone uses the screenplay (originally by Quentin Tarantino) to throw every cinematic technique in the book at the viewer. Flashbacks, video montages, back-projection, fast-cutting, black and white, monotone, and the weirdest camera angles you're ever likely to see combine to give you a visual bombardment that leaves you feeling exhausted at all the images you have had to take in. I get the impression this was a deliberate ploy by Stone - you're supposed to be looking inside the head of a serial killer here, it's bound to be exhausting. The only problem is, he uses it to overkill. It's not just the nutters in the film who get this technique to serve as "thought bubbles," the entire film is enveloped in it. If Stone is trying to suggest that everyone's a potential murderer, fine, but give the viewer the chance to work it out for themselves.
Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox is brilliant, absolutely faultless, and Juliette Lewis is disturbingly convincing as Mallory. She seems to be making a habit of playing disturbed females. "Cheers" will never be the same again. Robert Downey Jr hams it up well as the supposed villain of the piece, although a film where two convicted serial killers are the heroes is a strange inversion. I suppose it mirrors the idea that the "media made them superstars". Another reason for seeing this powerful but flawed film is a thundering soundtrack, that echoes the imagery of the film in its loud, in-your-face style. Rap, country, heavy metal, it all just seems so right.
In the end though, it all depends on whether you will succumb to Stone's unique brand of moralizing. PLATOON was hardly subtle, but it won Oscars. This is even less subtle and very heavy-handed in its criticism of the media. There are scenes which reach farcical proportions in their attempts to "visualize" the media celebrity idea. But their is a certain pulp poetry in here somewhere, and it certainly stands out, if not head and shoulders, at least shoulders above the other films of the year.
Overall Rating: 70 %
-- Nizam U Ahmed cs41na@surrey.ac.uk
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