Before making his directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino sold two scripts to be helmed by other filmmakers: True Romance, which was ultimately directed by Tony Scott, and Natural Born Killers, which was ultimately directed by Oliver Stone.
Stone took the bare bones of Tarantino’s script – a slick, ultraviolent lovers-on-the-run story akin to Bonnie and Clyde – and gave it a healthy dose of satirical bite in connecting Mickey and Mallory’s fan following to the media’s sensationalization of violent criminals. In Stone’s hands, Natural Born Killers emerged as a timeless cult thriller.
Woody Harrelson And Juliette Lewis Share Real Chemistry As Mickey And Mallory
Mickey and Mallory Knox spend the first half of Natural Born Killers on a killing spree and the second half instigating a prison riot. They could have come off as unlikable, but Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis have strong enough chemistry in the roles to create a tangible love connection between them.
The real relationship that Mickey and Mallory share humanizes them and makes them relatable, despite the grisly atrocities they commit throughout the movie.
The Incisive Critique Of The Media Still Applies Today
Stone rewrote Tarantino’s initial Natural Born Killers script as an incisive satire of the sensationalization of criminal cases in the news. At the time, figures like O.J. Simpson and Tonya Harding had become renowned celebrities on the basis of their alleged crimes.
The movie suggests that real-life violence and the media’s coverage of it are two sides of the same coin. Since the mass media still glamorizes crime for ratings, the satire of Natural Born Killers still applies today.
Oliver Stone’s Bizarre Visuals Are Open To Interpretation
Stone helmed Natural Born Killers with a bold, experimental style that’s nothing like any of his other movies. Whereas Stone usually makes sobering political dramas, Natural Born Killers throws realism out the window.
The movie is filled with cutaways to bizarre imagery like a multi-headed dragon and Wayne Gale as the Devil that audiences have been dissecting for years. Fans are still discussing the meaning of these mind-bending visual non-sequiturs three decades later.
Robert Downey, Jr.’s Caricature Of True Crime Exploitation Is Even More Relevant Now
While Harrelson and Lewis are undeniably the stars of Natural Born Killers, Robert Downey, Jr. provides strong support in the role of Wayne Gale, a media personality whose true-crime show exploits the gruesome work of serial killers for the purposes of entertainment.
Since true crime has become even more popular, Downey’s portrayal of a media figure who capitalizes on tragedies to boost his own public image is more relevant than ever.
The “I Love Mallory” Sitcom Sequence Is A Timeless Satire
Stone frames the flashbacks detailing Mallory’s tragic backstory as a classic I Love Lucy-style situation comedy called “I Love Mallory.” Rodney Dangerfield plays harrowingly against type in the jarring juxtaposition of unsettling scenes of domestic violence against the lighthearted style of a family sitcom.
The use of a multi-camera setup and laughter track over an abusive father threatening his daughter contrasts the watered-down version of family life presented in the American media with the haunting reality of family life faced by many Americans like Mallory.
The Editing Has A Psychedelic, Dreamlike Quality
Most movies have around 600 to 700 different cuts. But editors Hank Corwin and Brian Berdan cut Natural Born Killers together with such a fast-paced, frenzied, all-over-the-place style that it ended up with nearly 3,000 cuts.
Audiences drift through the movie, unable to tear their eyes away from the gonzo cinematics on-screen. The breakneck pacing of the editing doesn’t let up throughout the entire two-hour runtime.
Mickey And Mallory Knox Are Quintessential Antiheroes
As Mickey and Mallory’s killing spree inspires a cult following across the United States, they become quintessential antiheroes. They’re cold-hearted murderers, but their blood-soaked expression of rage manages to capture the zeitgeist.
Being madly in love gave Mickey and Mallory the kind of humanity that isn’t usually given to trigger-happy antiheroes. They may be bad, but the so-called “good guys” are just as bad, if not worse.
There Are Gray Morals On Both Sides
Mickey and Mallory might be morally questionable antiheroes, but so is just about everybody else in this movie – no matter what side of the law they’re on. Tom Sizemore’s detective character Jack Scagnetti is shown to be just as amoral and sadistic and reprehensible as the natural-born killers he’s chasing.
Tommy Lee Jones plays an authoritarian prison warden who rules his cell block with an iron fist. Robert Downey, Jr.’s Wayne Gale claims to be an impartial journalistic profiler of criminals, but he exploits their grisly crimes to boost his show’s ratings. Natural Born Killers’ portrayal of immorality permeating through all walks of life offers a sharp counterpoint to the black-and-white morals found in most Hollywood movies.
The Stylized Violence Is Endlessly Thrilling
As with any movie that has Tarantino’s name attached to it – and most of the movies with Stone’s name attached to them – Natural Born Killers is extremely violent. The movie’s violence is satirically exaggerated and highly stylized, which never gets old.
With visual flourishes like flitting between color and black-and-white on a whim and capturing shots from the point-of-view of speeding bullets, Stone brought a vibrant energy to the violent set pieces of Natural Born Killers.
Tarantino’s Script Offers A Unique Take On The Lovers-On-The-Run Concept
Much like the other script that Tarantino sold before becoming a director, True Romance, Natural Born Killers offers a unique take on the lovers-on-the-run concept popularized by Bonnie and Clyde.
This formula has been recycled by many crime movies since the Arthur Penn classic hit theaters. By telling one of these stories through the lens of satire, lampooning celebrity culture and mass media, Natural Born Killers sets itself apart as a Bonnie and Clyde homage like no other.