Natural Born Killers
“Natural Born Killers” is Oliver Stone at his most maximalist as a filmmaker. Even though he rounded out his Vietnam trilogy in between the two with “Heaven and Earth,” this is his true follow-up to “JFK,” where he used a wide variety of cinematic techniques to get to the conspiratorial mindset of investigating the JFK assassination. That film was longer, but in “Natural Born Killers,” Stone is swinging for the fences even more audaciously. Sadly, the discipline he displayed in “JFK” is gone; all we’re left with is empty spectacle in search of an idea.
Famously, the original screenplay for this film was by Quentin Tarantino, who originally envisioned it as a ’90s riff on films like “Bonnie & Clyde” and “Badlads,” about a pair of lovers who go on a murderous rampage, and a TV journalist. When he was unable to get it made himself, Tarantino sold it to producers who put it in Oliver Stone’s hands. Imagine if Stone’s intent with this film had had direct input from Tarantino in making this film. This might have actually had teeth as a commentary on the media’s obsession with violence, and the purveyors of it. But Tarantino only has story credit, leaving Stone and his co-writers, David Veloz and Richard Rutowski, to try and make that come to life. The result is a disaster.
The film begins as Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) are at an out of the way diner. When a couple of men come in hitting on the dancing Mallory, the violence begins. After we see flashbacks to how the couple met- Mickey was a meat delivery man who met Mallory (at the time, living with her abusive family) on a job- we follow them as they get married, and their killing spree continues. Up to 52 people are murdered by the end, and they are a media sensation. Adoring fans the world over. And Mickey agrees to an exclusive interview while in prison with tabloid sleaze Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.). If it bleeds, it leads, right?
With “Natural Born Killers,” Stone, cinematographer Robert Richardson and editors Brian Berdan and Hank Corwin take the surreal visual language they created for “JFK” and inject it with adrenaline. This film is a kaleidoscope of images. Black and white, color, 8mm grainy film, animation, filtered scenes, and lighting that creates a sense of familiarity with the mindsets of the characters, all with stock footage, commercials, old TV and movie clips and whatever else Stone feels like throwing in. Media is a co-star in this film in ways few other filmmakers have tried to use it. The problem, for me, is that it amounts to nothing but visual noise on screen. His most successful stylistic choice, visually, is to frame the flashbacks to Mallory’s homelife as a ’50s sitcom, with her parents played by Rodney Dangerfield as a lecherous father, and Edie McClurg as her silent mother. That works as an idea, using the wholesome nature of sitcom to reflect a reality that was anything but wholesome for a lot of families. His next best choice was bringing in Trent Reznor to produce and mix the soundtrack; his approach is the same as Stone’s is visually, but as an experience, its mix of genres and artists gets to an energy of violence and pain and storytelling Stone’s film can only hope to accomplish on its own.
So much of the film is dominated by its visual language that considering the performances on their own is a tricky thing. As Mickey and Mallory, I think Harrelson and Lewis do a great job of giving Stone what he wants, but they’re playing an idea of characters rather than multi-dimensional people (for the most part; I’ll explain in a bit). Dangerfield is terrific as Mallory’s perverted father, as is Russell Means as an old Indian whom is an unwitting victim of the pair. As Det. Jack Scagnetti, Tom Sizemore is all corrupt cop, and Tommy Lee Jones as Warden Dwight McClusky is flat-out insane to watch (and not in a good way). The performance that stood out to me on this viewing was Robert Downey Jr. as Wayne Gale, from his crazy Australian accent to his slimy energy and demeanor, he is the ultimate commentary on the media in this film, and the sequence between he and Harrelson during the interview is the best representation of what Stone wants to do in this film, create a damning indictment of a media who’s more driven to get the scoop on the perpetrators of violence rather than report on the consequences of violence. I almost wonder if the film had simply been this sequence if it would have gotten to the point Stone wants to make in a more meaningful way.
When I graded the film in 1995 (my likely year seeing it), I think I was responding to the backlash of how it deviated from Tarantino’s original ideas, and almost embraced the very media obsession with violence it wanted to condemn. Watching it again now, I find myself thinking that Stone’s visual language is to distract from how thin the film is narratively and thematically. Save for a few moments mentioned above (and a fantastic soundtrack), “Natural Born Killers” is style with very little substance at its core. It’s a filmmaker in love with the tools of the medium, but unable to tell a coherent story with them.
