Natural Born Killers: Amazon.ca: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Oliver Stone: DVD

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Oliver Stone would like to have the last word on America's media culture of voyeurism and violence, but whatever he's trying to say in this grisly, unconventional movie comes across terribly garbled. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play traveling serial killers who become television celebrities when a Geraldo-like personality (Robert Downey Jr.) turns their madness into the biggest story in the country. Stone extensively rewrote an original script by Quentin Tarantino, and he employs a mosaic of different film stocks, video, and pop pastiches to create a sense of blurred lines between visual phenomena. (The background on Lewis's character's life as an abused child, for instance, is presented as a sitcom starring Rodney Dangerfield.) But the result of these experiments is a pompous, even amateurish effort at grasping the reins of a real-life national debate. One almost wants to tell Stone to sit down and raise his hand next time if he thinks he has something to say. The controversial director would like Natural Born Killers to be nothing less than a monumental achievement, but it's one of the emptier entries in his filmography. --Tom Keogh

Video Details

The story of a husband and wife who are serial killers involved in a cross country killing spree that elevates them from fugitives into media celebrities.

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Customer Reviews

164 Reviews

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
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Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (164 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars "In the media circus of life, they were the main attraction", July 8 2004

By

Eric (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Natural Born Killers (DVD)

This true masterpiece directed by acclaimed director and writer, Oliver Stone, is avant-garde filmaking at its breaking point. The whole theme of Natural Born Killers is that the media is obsessive over violence and brutality; therefore, the extreme violence in the movie is used as a satire, not as entertainment. Definitely one of the most controversial movies ever released, especially in the 1990s when the Simpson trial, Rodney King, and the Menendez brothers became celebrity darlings because of the mass media and not because of anything credible. The acting by all the leads, especially Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, is amazing. Their true love is another theme that proves vital in Natural Born Killers. It is the one and only thing that can hold people together when faced with such things as violence and a tormented childhood. The actual violence portrayed is not even that graphic after one viewing. It is the break-neck pacing and high-speed cuts that give the movie its violent intensity. If not Woody Harrelson, then definitely Juliette Lewis should have received some sort of Academy nomination, such as an Emmy, if not an Oscar.

Oliver Stone beats one in the face with this media spectacle that boasts every type of film style imaginable. Everything from 36 mm to black and white to animation to a video camera to color tinting to fast and slow motion is used in abundance with fascinating success. Roger Ebert said, "Seeing this movie once is not enough," and he is right! A must see.

Brilliant Filmaking!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Satire is so misunderstood, May 3 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Natural Born Killers (DVD)

I've heard the comments on the movie. People going on and on about the extreme violence. What many fail to grasp is how this movie is a satire on violence. Satire is when some exagerates certain aspect of culture so that it can be seen for what it truly is. In this move, one can see our facination with violence and how it is perpetuated by the media. Violence is not the underlying theme, it is the media.
Watch this with an open mind and enjoy the symbolism behind it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Not a slasher flick, Feb 15 2004

By

Clifford Story (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Natural Born Killers (DVD)

This movie was released in 1994. I realized immediately that I did not want to see it -- the name alone was enough to put me off. But then, nine years later, I saw it after all, and I was blown away! This is no crude slasher flick, it's an indescribable mixture of film style and cultural criticism, a delight for the eye and the mind.

I won't repeat what others have said about the movie's depiction of media celebrity. The reason I'm writing this review is to point out another institution that takes its lickings: the family. Mickey and Mallory are a sweetheart couple, like something from a 1960s high school movie, and they'll grow into the ideal nuclear family, riding off with the kiddies in the Winnebago. It's the American dream! Just ignore all the corpses they leave behind themselves...

The truth is that people who were abused as children tend to abuse their own children. But we know that Mickey and Mallory won't do that -- they'll break the cycle of abuse. They're heros, who will rise above their origins! What could be more true-blue American? Just ignore all the corpses they leave behind themselves...

Yes, this is a movie about Family Values. Just ignore all the corpses...

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