Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Natural Born Killers

Voted as one of the 25 most dangerous films of all times, Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers is one of the coolest, scariest, wildest movies I've ever seen. On face value, the movie is about two mass murderers, Mickey and Mallory, who are in love with each other and with killing. The movie shows their journey together. It shows how the meet, how they live, and then it shows a bit of their time spent in prison. But the movie isn't really about Mickey and Mallory. It isn't even really about murder. It's, almost too clearly, about violence in the media. We see the press coverage of Mickey and Mallory's killing, we see the fans they gain (a la Bonnie and Clyde), and we always see snippets of news reports covering the trial of a murderer, a murder at a wedding, and a forest fire ravaging a village. Oliver Stone weaved this tale of two murderous lovers to show how the media exploits the hardships of others for ratings.
The story of Natural Born Killers is just amazing. It's violent and gory and over-the-top and awesome. But the story is just the base of this movie. The story really isn't what's important. It's the characters. Mickey, played by Woody Harrelson, was just plain charming. Yes he's a murderer. Yes he's crazy. But you just can help but love him. And the more you listen to what he says, the more you understand his crazy. The more you feel for him and for his lover, Mallory, who is played by Juliette Lewis. You'll even find yourself rooting for Mallory when she lights her mother's bed on fire because of the life-long abuse she has faced from her father and mother. Both actors have a special ability. An ability to pull people into their characters, no matter how evil the character is. But, they weren't the only good actors in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones provides an astoundingly over-the-top performance as the manager of the prison housing Mickey and Mallory and Robert Downey Jr. delivers as a TV personality trying to get the best ratings by interviewing the notorious and well-loved Mickey.
Natural Born Killers best quality, however, was the editing. It was just astounding. There were nearly 7000 cuts throughout the film and everything blended together. There were different types of shots, some in black and white, some in color. And each shot, each cut, each color, meant something. The black and white meant that we were watching inside the head of the characters while color meant that everything was happening exactly as it happened with nothing changed or manipulated. And each cut showed a different demon, or dark side, that lived inside of Mickey. Every shot meant something.
Natural Born Killers is not a movie for everyone. There is very, very graphic violence that may disturb some people. There is a lot of blood and a lot of gore and the subject matter is deeply frightening. However, for people who don't mind a little, well a lot, of blood, Natural Born Killers is a must see commentary on the media.

-H

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