Natural Born Killers

Plot synopsis:
IntroductionMickey Knox and his wife Mallory go to a roadside café in the New Mexico desert. They appear to be normal customers, with Mickey eating key lime pie and Mallory dancing to rock 'n' roll on the jukebox. A group of rednecks arrive and one begins dancing and flirting with Mallory. She encourages him for a moment, then attacks him without provocation by smashing his beer bottle as he drinks from it. A fistfight ensues, with Mallory beating the man. When the redneck's friend intervenes, Mickey cuts off one of the cowboy's fingers and stabs him with a large Bowie-style knife. Mickey and Mallory then begin killing the diner's patrons, culminating in a morbid game of "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" to decide who lives and who dies among the last 2 customers. After executing their final victim, Mabel the waitress, the couple make sure the only survivor, a cook, remembers their names and promises to tell the authorities who committed the massacre before they embrace and declare their undying love for each other.Part IMickey and Mallory are in a desert at night. Mallory is reminiscing about when they first met. A flashback shows Mickey as a butcher's deliveryman who came to the house where Mallory lived with her abusive father (Rodney Dangerfield), her neglectful mother (Edie McClurg), and her younger brother Kevin. The flashback is portrayed as a 1950s-type sitcom with a canned laughter track, the "audience" laughing hardest when Mallory is subjected to lewd comments and hints of molestation by her father.Mickey instantly falls in love with Mallory. They leave together, Mickey stealing Mallory's father's car. Mickey is arrested and imprisoned for grand theft auto, but he subsequently escapes a horse work farm during a tornado and returns to Mallory's house. The two kill her father by beating him with a jack handle and drowning him in a fish tank, then burn her mother alive in bed. They spare her ten-year-old brother, Mallory telling him that he is free. They leave to rapturous applause from the "audience."Mickey and Mallory get "married" on the side of a bridge, exchanging snake wedding bands, cutting their palms and mixing their blood. They drive to a motel for the night. After watching television, they begin to have sex until Mickey is distracted by a female hostage. Furious with Mickey's notion that they have a threesome, Mallory drives to a nearby gas station where she flirts with the mechanic. They begin to have sex on the hood of a car, but Mallory is angered by his over-aggressive oral sex and shoots him to death. Back at the motel, Mickey rapes the hostage.Part IIThe pair continue their killing-spree (which bears similarities to Bonnie and Clyde and the Starkweather-Fugate murders), ultimately claiming 48 victims along Route 666 in New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Pursuing them are two characters who see the murderers as a chance to achieve fame for themselves.The first is a policeman, Detective Jack Scagnetti, who seems particularly fascinated by Mallory. Scagnetti is already a well-known personality, a published author, whose book "Scagnetti on Scagnetti" is a best-seller within law enforcement. Scagnetti has a lifelong obsession with mass murderers after witnessing his mother being shot and killed by Charles Whitman in Austin, Texas when he was eight. Despite his heroic facade, he is actually sociopathic, strangling a prostitute to death in a hotel room after he tries to get too rough with her & she scratches his face.The second follower of the killers is journalist Wayne Gale. He is an Australian who hosts a show called American Maniacs, which profiles mass murderers. Various clips of Mickey and Mallory are shown, with Gale acting outraged on-screen as he details the pair's crimes, although off-air he clearly regards their crimes as a fantastic way of increasing his show's ratings. It is Gale who is primarily responsible for elevating Mickey and Mallory to hero status, with his show featuring interviews with people around the world expressing their admiration for the killers.Mickey and Mallory become lost in the desert and encounter Warren Red Cloud, a Navajo Indian, and his pre-adolescent grandson. After the two fall asleep, the Navajo, hoping to expel the demon he perceives in Mickey, begins chanting beside the fire, invoking nightmares in Mickey about his abusive parents. Mickey wakes up in a rage and fatally shoots the Navajo before he realizes what he is doing. It is the first time Mallory and Mickey feel guilty for a murder. While fleeing from the scene through the desert, they stray into a field of rattlesnakes and are both bitten.They drive to a drugstore to find snake antivenin, but the pharmacist sets off the silent alarm before Mickey kills him. Police cars pull up. Mallory is captured immediately and is subsequently beaten by the sadistic and brutish police. A gunfight breaks out between Mickey and the others. Scagnetti arrives. He tells Mickey that unless he surrenders, he'll cut off Mallory's breasts, slashing her a few times with his knife. Mickey gives up his gun, but he attacks Scagnetti with a knife. The police use tazers on him, and the scene ends with Mickey and Mallory being beaten by a group of vengeful policemen.Part IIIThe story picks up one year later. The homicidal couple have been imprisoned -- a trial is only hinted at in footage provided by Gale. Both are due to be moved to a mental hospital after being declared insane. Scagnetti arrives at the prison and encounters Dwight McClusky, the sleazy and abusive warden of the prison. The two devise a plan to murder the two criminals. McClusky will arrange for Scagnetti to be the driver for the Knox's transfer. Alone with the pair, Scagnetti will murder them, then claim that they tried to escape.Wayne Gale has persuaded Mickey to agree to a live interview, to air immediately after the Super Bowl. Mallory is held in solitary confinement elsewhere in the prison, awaiting her transport to the mental hospital.During the interview, Mickey gives a speech about how murder provides enlightenment and declares himself a "natural born killer." His words inspire the other inmates (who are watching the interview on TV in the recreation room) and incite them to riot.McClusky orders the interview terminated over Gale's violent protests. Mickey is left alone with Gale, Gale's TV crew and several guards. Using a lengthy joke as a diversion, Mickey overpowers a guard and grabs his shotgun and kills most of the guards and some of Gale's crew. Mickey takes the survivors hostage, leading them through the prison riot, intending to reunite with Mallory. Gale follows, giving a live television report as people are beaten and killed around him. Inmates torture and murder prisoners and guards alike.During the interview and outbreak of the riot, Scagnetti is in Mallory's cell. He attempts to seduce her. Mallory plays along for a short time, then attacks Scagnetti violently, smashing his face against the wall and breaking his nose. The guards and Scagnetti subdue her.Still live on national television, Mickey breaks into Mallory's cell and engages in a brief Mexican Standoff with Scagnetti, eventually feigning a concession. Mallory then approaches Scagnetti from behind and slashes his throat with a shank. Mickey then reveals that the shotgun was unloaded, much to Scagnetti's horror. Mallory picks up Scagnetti's loaded gun and kills him.They continue to escape through the riot-torn prison, with two guards as hostages. The remainder of Gale's TV crew are killed. Gale himself snaps and begins to shoot at the guards, claiming to be "alive for the first time in [his] life."After being rescued by a mysterious prisoner named Owen Traft, the trio of Mickey, Mallory and Gale run into Warden McClusky and a heavily armed posse of guards. Cavanaugh, the guard they'd taken hostage, is shot to death by McClusky's men. In retaliation, Mallory shoots Gale thru his hand & they retreat, taking cover in a blood-splattered shower room. Gale calls his wife and tells her he is leaving her. He calls his mistress to tell her he will see her later, however, she hangs up on him.McClusky threatens to storm the shower room. Mickey in turn, duct-tapes shotguns to the necks of Gale & a guard, Homolka, threatening to kill both on live TV. The prisoners walk out the front door. McClusky and his guards are massacred by hordes of inmates who burst into the area. They tear McClusky apart, cutting his head off and displaying it on a spike (a shot removed from the theatrical showing and seen in the director's cut only).After the escape, Owen is never seen or mentioned again. Mickey and Mallory steal a van and kill the last guard. Escaping to a rural location, they give a final interview to Wayne Gale before, much to his surprise and horror, they tell him he must also die. Gale attempts various arguments to change their minds, finally appealing to their trademark practice of leaving one witness to tell the tale. Mickey inform him they are leaving his camera as the witness. Gale accepts his fate and extends his arms as if on a cross as they execute him by shooting him numerous times while his unattended camera continues to roll.The couple are shown several years later in an RV, with Mickey driving and Mallory (who is pregnant) watching their two children play.

Tags: comedy, cruelty, murder, neo noir, cult, violence, flashback, insanity, psychedelic, satire, romantic, revenge, sadist

Review:
...people really need to take another look at "Natural Born Killers."The plot: Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in roles that are a little too convincing) are a husband/wife pair of serial killers whose vicious crime spree across the country has made them into media superstars.This movie is a barrage of frightening and surreal images, and is damn near hypnotic to watch.I can see where the controversy surrounding this film comes from but what I don't understand is where the hate is coming from.1994's "Natural Born Killers" has to be one of the best movies of the 90s - its sole purpose on this planet is to showcase America's fascination with violence.But lets try to understand the hate.
My high school paper recently did an article about sex and violence on television and one of the supposed outlets of that violence would be our fascination with the war in Iraq and the Jessica Lynch story.It said that we are much, much more concerned with the sex (I personally don't think today's teenage girls are THAT impressionable, but who knows?), rather than the violence (which apparently seems to be causing a misguided sh!tstorm of controversy, too, and like the sex, I don't think that people are that impressionable), namely the kind that is seen in music videos and such.
Though the article refused to go into specifics (but we know who the people being discussed are and I'm sure they do, too), it brings me back to "Natural Born Killers," which I think people need to take another look at.In this day and age, violence on television is becoming more and more commonplace, and this movie's relevance seems to make its viewing that much more important.
Before we go and continue to bash the hell out of it again, people need to come back and take a look around themselves and watch "Natural Born Killers.".
From director Oliver Stone comes this flashy but frustratingly uneven and unfocused story of a sadistic, recently married couple who brutally butcher random people across the United States as part of their honeymoon.
Well-crafted film holds your interest by making social points that are poignant, provocative, at times even satirical, but alas, they're set in the midst of noisy and excessive action scenes that are relentless and headache-inducing, not to mention extremely violent.
Combining the brilliant early writing skills of Tarantino, Oliver Stone's addiction to violence with the brilliant performance of Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, and all the supporting cast(Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Sizemore and Tommy Lee Jones).
Not only is Natural Born Killers a visual masterpiece, but it is probably one of the most insane and nonsensical social commentary films I have ever seen.
Criticizing the influence of media with another form of media called film.With a lot of cuts, strange camera angles, different colors, the kind of music and a lot of symbolism the sick world of mass murderers Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) is presented.
Director Oliver Stone shows it to us with this satire in a great and really disturbing way.Harrelson and Lewis hit the right tone for Mickey and Mallory.
I remember "Natural Born Killers" making a huge fuss when it was released because the media and conservative families were in an outrage over the level of "glorified violence" in the film.
If Oliver Stone's movie has one outstanding flaw, it's the lack of subtlety.That said, if you can handle the level of violence and take it tongue-in-cheek, "Natural Born Killers" is so bizarre and funny that it's worth the "trip." (Pun intended.) This is a crazy drug odyssey that would have made Hunter S.
Stone's film-making has gone somewhat awry over the years (look at the pointless excess of his films after this), but this fits the bill because it IS a story of excess.Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play the titular "Natural Born Killers," Mickey and Mallory, a pair of crazy serial killers who both suffered traumatic childhoods and are now rampaging America on a literal killing spree.After they are finally apprehended, the media has by now turned them into such icons and glorified personalities that the public and media seems to respect them as titans of filth.This is where the social satire of the film comes into play, essentially saying: We focus more on the killers than the heroes.I do think it's a bit hypocritical of Oliver Stone to attempt to point this out, as he is a die-hard liberal at his core and, as the controversy surrounding this film's release proved, the conservatives are too conservative to praise killers.
It seems to be the liberal media that glorifies violence (to some extent of course) so I thought Stone would be the last person to ever criticize the media.So yes it does come across as somewhat of a moot point but nevertheless the film is still enjoyable despite its sometimes sickening amount of over-the-top violence (the opening sequence of the Director's Cut is stomach-turning).The cast is superb - Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Edie McClurg (the rental car agent from "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and Rooney's assistant in "Ferris Bueller"!) and Denis Leary and Ashley Judd in deleted scenes included in the Director's Cut.The story was conceived by Quentin Tarantino (and it's very similar to his "True Romance" script -- a sort of modern-day "Bonnie and Clyde Redux") and re-written by Stone (much to the chagrin of QT).
I'm not sure which would have made for a better film but, despite its flaws (which are mainly a none-too-subtle message and too much violence), "Natural Born Killers" is a sort of bizarre, outlandish masterpiece of drugged-out cinema.
I didn't see this (ahem!) "film" for a long time because it sounded like a load of garbage.After hearing others tell how much they liked it,I got weak and watched this thing(luckily I checked it from the library and didn't pay rental).What a psychic I am!!!It WAS a load of garbage!!!I don't know why everyone seems to love this junk and think Mickey and Mallory are cool...I was ready for them to die after the first 15 minutes.The only good thing about this "Director's Cut" version I got was the unused scene where  M and M get blown away by Arliss Howard's character.Should have put that in the original...right at the beginning!!.
A film student could go crazy trying to analyse this mess.In fact, the only one of Stone's ideas that actually works on either a satirical or purely visual level is the sit-com section, where Mallory's sexually abusive father (Rodney Dangerfield, in a genius spot of casting) is treated to laughter and acceptance, rather than derision, from the canned audience.
As it is, it's a showreel for indulgent, mindless direction.If you want to watch a movie which satirises the relationship between a serial killer and the media more successfully (and also manages to be funny!) rent Man Bites Dog..
What will happen next?"Natural Born Killers" is a film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Oliver Stone with stylized violence.
This film would not be HALF as hard to take if it were simply a violent, fun, exploitation-type movie, as it would seem Tarantino originally intended.
Natural Born Killers was quite possibly the worst "big budget" movie from a "big name" director that I have ever viewed.Where do I start:The story was inane at best.
It was a half-baked version of the Bonnie & Clyde story, only more modern, and less interesting.After viewing Natural Born Killers, I thought less about the film and more about what Oliver Stone must have been thinking when he made it.
With NATURAL BORN KILLERS, he just makes a movie full of senseless violence that is a TRUE ROMANCE wannabee.
The two leads, "Mickey and Mallory" are two names that now go together, thanks to this film and the ultra-sleazy portrayals of them by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis.THE BAD NEWS - Most of the people in this film, if not all, are so vile, so profane, so morally bankrupt, so disgusting you want to take a shower after watching this film.
Tommy Lee Jones, as the warden, and Robert Downey, as the Aussie scumbag tabloid reporter, absolutely go over-the-top.OVERALL - In order to stomach this film, you have to look at it as some outrageous satire on violence and the media and take these characters as extreme cartoon-like people and nothing else.
The film is an annoying assault on the senses, often projecting non-sequitur words into the background and adding a laugh track to scenes for apparently no reason other than "it would be really cool".Everything about this overlong music video was apparently designed to make the viewers' heads explode: Woody Harrelson's terrible country-fried accent, Juliette Lewis' retardate imitation (something she has done in almost every one of her movies since...yeah, you're braindead, we get it), completely random and pointless killings (could we at least get SOME semblance of a motive?) and the utterly disgusting "romance" between the two that made me wish for nothing more than "Dirty" Harry Callahan to pop out of nowhere and give them three plugs each from his .44 magnum.
Not that NATURAL BORN KILLERS is a stupid movie - It`s worse than a stupid movie , it`s an egotistical one as Oliver Stone shows through one movie how many directing styles he learned at film school .
I was totally convinced before seeing NBK this scene would take place at the very end of the movie ( Logically it should ) but it takes place roughly 25 minutes into the running timeAs for the controversy the only death NATURAL BORN KILLERS was responsible for was killing Oliver Stone`s career , but he`s only got himself to blame.
I found Natural Born Killers and in my mind from what I have seen this is not a nice nor a good film.
And the animated scenes don't add anything to the plot, neither impress you.A totally forgettable film that claims an immediate remake by someone competent (Oliver fuc**ng StoneD, go direct drama/action movies and let guys like D.
To these last two questions I'd say probably not.Of the Oliver Stone films that I have seen, "Natural Born Killers" is the only one that I did not like.
It may not rise as much debate today, as we are getting used to more violence, but it certainly opens you're eyes and it's criticism of the media is now probably even more topical then it's ever been.I think Oliver Stone did this Tarrantino story very good.
Natural Born Killers was made to criticize and satire America's obsession for violence, and while at first a fascinating concept, its constantly shoved down your throat nearly every five minutes, so much so you'll get a headache from that too after about an hour.And I hate to sound like an old fart, but the film did go overboard with the violence.
It's not so much what is shown but rather the nature of it; I don't want to give anything away, but some of the things shown sickened me (most of all some subliminal flashes of what looked like graphic images from The Holocaust; completely unnecessary and offensive in a film like this).The violence is gratuitous and forced, and while that is probably the point, that didn't stop it from making me feel nauseous and even a little angry.
Why did Stone have to screw with that?Granted, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downy Jr. perform wonderfully as Mickey and Wayne, but I believe that the movie was, all in all, an exercise in wasted potential.
I haven't liked any of Oliver Stone's (or Quentin Tarantino's) movies, so here's another one.
The whole thing behind "Natural born killers" seems to be a "clever" look at how medias can turn into complete trash but unfortunately the movie turns into trash itself.
Please Mr. Stone, next time you want to criticize the fascism of tv shows using violence to get high rates, avoid doing the same with your movie !
Unwatchable piece of crap from consistently dud director Oliver Stone.Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play homicidal lovers who bask in the media frenzy that surrounds their spree of violence.
Stone thinks he's saying something important (doesn't he always?) about media sensationalism and Americans' obsession with violence, but as frequently happens with films that try to satirize violence, it becomes what it criticizes.Stone thinks that relentless noise and movement is just what this stupid story needed, when he might have wanted to focus on some character development instead.This one will give you a migraine.Grade: F.
Oliver Stone however, turns the movie into what HE wanted, and ruined it.The film is riddled with plot holes and revealing mistakes, and usually we can enjoy a movie with such things.
This film as actually caused the death of people, showing that Oliver Stone's movies ARE so awful they do create the want to kill in some people.
Robert Downey Jnr is great, Tom Sizemore is good and Tommy Lee Jones just plays a cartoon character.As a pop-culture movie it's worth watching as the video editing etc is really effective (even if it does feel like an old man trying to fit in), however as social comment it is bogus and has been done better elsewhere.
"Natural Born Killers" is more like an acid trip than a movie.
Thanks for tuning me in to the blatantly obvious.If you want to see something interesting about the media, go get Noam Chomsky's "Manufacture of Consent." If you have the reasoning capacity of a 12 year-old and love stupid violence, as well as horrid acting (my god, I truly cannot believe anyone actually paid Lewis for her role), then see this truly idiotic film..
In fact, the parts that were supposed to be "funny" made me even more angry than the "provoking" parts of his other movies (the deleted scene with the courtroom was so sadistic it made me want to see Stone and Tarrantino's heads on plates - and i usually like Tarrantino's films).
Two hours of non-stop blood and violence was never going to appeal to everyone.'Natural Born Killers' is a bizarre film, practically indescribable.
In this charming film, two lovers, played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis engage in brutal graphic violence as serial killers who become media darlings as they go on their spree.
I mean, just for sickening starters, there wasn't one, single, solitary character in this entire film who was even remotely likable.As an offering to the masses, Natural Born Killers was director Oliver Stone's perversely twisted satire on America's insatiable infatuation with crime and brutality.With a bludgeon firmly in hand, Stone delivered his derisive points on the subject of media-mania early on in the film.
"MEDIA VIOLENCE AND MEDIA MENTION OF VIOLENCE IS BAD." Repeat this brutishly simplistic message about 500 times VERY LOUDLY, and you have the movie.There are inklings of cinematographic talent, probably creditable to Oliver Stone, and traces of interest that appear to have survived from Quentin Tarantino's script, but they are overwhelmed by heavy-handed Stoneoid preaching and farcical acting.
Glorification of serial killers, rapists, a shameless, degrading exhibition of violence, nudity, and filth.After viewing this movie, I can safely say I have lost all respect for Woody Harrelson, and Oliver Stone (a truly great film-maker).
We have one "thoughtful" scene near and during the film's climax with Woody Harrelson's Mickey, and a few flashbacks to troubled childhoodsbut that's about it.--Some decent music choices and some odd ones.The Bad:--The extensive violence will be as much a turn-off for some people as it is a turn-on for others.--The wild, flashy cinematography can get to be too much after a whileit's like watching a music video for two solid hours, and often times detracts quite a bit from the dialog.
Not quite as bad as the truly awful human qualities crammed into the "people" in the "Creature Features" remake of "How to Make a Monster," but still pretty low.The Ugly:--Depending on the individual, a whole lot of this film is ugly.Memorable Scene:--The climax in the prison.Acting: 8/10 Story: 6/10 Atmosphere: 9/10 Cinematography: 10/10 (Will not be to everyone's liking) Character Development: 7/10 Special Effects/Make-up: 8/10 Nudity/Sexuality: 3/10 (Very brief nudity, but a decent amount of other sexuality) Violence/Gore: 9/10 (Tons of violence, tons of blood, very very little actual "gore") Dialogue: 8/10 Music: 7/10 Direction: 9/10 Cheesiness: 2/10 Crappiness: 1/10Overall: 8/10What's that you say?
Why I hate Natural Born Killers (1994) directed by Oliver Stone.
The "message" that the media loves killers was heavy handed and far too obvious, although Robert Downey did his usual fantastic work as the Geraldo-like reporter trying to get the story on Micky and Mallory.Overall, this is a good movie for pseudo intellects to see and then sit over a cappuccino to discuss the meaning behind why the director chose to use black and white as the bullet traveled through the air.
Oliver Stone's insistence to completely ignore the story and focus entirely on mindless and repetitive violence which leaves the film feeling empty.
Anyone who has a reasonable amount of intelligence doesn't need a film like this to explain to them the responsibility that film, TV and media industry as a whole have in the violence that some members of society feel compelled to commit and its message will be lost on those it should actually be speaking to who won't be able to understand the point Oliver Stone is actually trying to get across..
I didn't like Stone's directing in this film.
NATURAL BORN KILLERS, directed by Oliver Stone has probably earned a space in my vault of movies I consider to be totally overrated and incredibly bad.
I realize that the director, Oliver Stone, was making a point about society's growing immunity to emotions caused by violence, but it makes a really bad movie.
You don't need a natural born killer to get hurt, watching this movie does the trick.Note: Some may find Oliver Stone's point of views insightful and may enjoy this movie..