Natural Born Killers - 4 stars out of 10

Natural Born Killers - 4 stars out of 10

Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" is a long way off from "Platoon" and "JFK."  The film is violence in its purest form, focusing on the media's glorification of serial killers and the public's enthusiastic reaction.  In concept, it sounds like the film makes a really interesting, poignant statement.  Unfortunately, this statement gets buried under layers of dead bodies and gallons of blood.  The film sets out to desensitize its audience with an overwhelming amount of death until it becomes meaningless but, once the carnage has ceased, it feels just as offensive as when it began.  Stylistically, the film goes in a few interesting directions.  The most interesting (but also the most awkward) is the telling of Mallory's sexually abusive childhood in the form of a 1960's sitcom.  Complete with a reactive studio audience, dialogue about spousal abuse and child molestation is turned into a "joke."  It becomes very uncomfortable when sexual innuendo from the father to his daughter are met with laughter and applause.  Stone also mixes mediums, shooting through a variety of lenses and filters from many different angles that are all mashed together to create a sporadic feel.  Even though I wasn't crazy about the film, I have to applaude Juliette Lewis for her interpretation of Mallory.  I love her rapidly changing attitude like when the guy dances with her in the diner and the events that unravel on top of the Corvette.  Robert Downey Jr. is also incredible as the tv personality Wayne Gale, slowly progressing from sanity to worshipper or Mickey and Mallory's killing philosophy.  "Natural Born Killers" has an important moral buried deeply under its violence and profanity but I cannot guarentee that you will be able to find it, even if you intently sit through these two hours of relentless violence with a magnifying glass.