Natural Born Killers
Directed by Oliver Stone
Reviewed by Rjurik Davidson
The film industry has been reviving dark, violent and macabre films: the degenerate The Bad Lieutenant, the disturbing Boxing Helena, the cataclysmic Reservoir Dogs and the extremely disturbing Naked.
A large number of contemporary films are imbued with a deep pessimism about late 20th century society and the human condition.
The latest film in the genre is Natural Born Killers, from the pen of Quentin Tarrantino (True Romance, Reservoir Dogs).
Dubbed one of the most violent films of the year, in which Oliver Stone "really overdid things", Natural Born Killers follows the story of Mickey and Malory, a pair of mass murderers. There is no rhyme or reason for their killing spree; killing is something they are just born to do.
Mickey and Malory become media darlings, and even popular heroes. In what some have described as a social commentary, Stone portrays the media as making the most of the slayings — in the vein of O.J. Simpson's trial.
Millions of people are purported to follow the trail of the killers. In one scene a youth, interviewed by a TV station, says: "Don't get me wrong, I respect human life and all that. But if I was a mass murderer, I'd be Mickey and Malory."
The section of the film dealing with Malory's family (ill-fated of course) is especially surreal. The family is portrayed as being part of a family sitcom. However, the jokes which prompt the canned laughter are deliberately offensive and lacking in humour — Malory's father is the most disgusting individual you could imagine.
Whatever social commentary there is (which really isn't much), tends to be overwhelmed by glibness and commerciality. It's Hollywood doing mass murders.
The amount of violence and blood, the offhand nature of the killing, makes it all seem unreal — rather like a computer game. The main characters are two-dimensional; there is almost no-one the viewer can relate to.
The movie fails to achieve the relentless pace of Reservoir Dogs; it's unable to achieve the cosmic darkness of Naked or the degeneracy and emotional content of The Bad Lieutenant. Where it does win out is in its big budget special effects and techniques.
The film as a whole is an interesting creation. The social commentary is not so much contained within the film, but in the fact that it was made at all.
In a world which spawns the LA riots, a multitude of mass murderers and strange religious cults burning themselves in Swiss villas, what does one go and see at the movies? Mickey and Malory, of course!