Stone can’t make a point subtly –- and yes, even a brutal, hallucinogenic movie like this one would benefit from some subtlety.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:15
Rotten:14
Average Rating:5.9/10
Runtime: 3 hrs 25 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Oliver Stone's over-the-top satire on America's worshipful fascination with tabloid criminals stars Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox and Juliette Lewis as girlfriend-wife Mallory Wilson. Commencing... Oliver Stone's over-the-top satire on America's worshipful fascination with tabloid criminals stars Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox and Juliette Lewis as girlfriend-wife Mallory Wilson. Commencing with the dual murder of Mallory's sexually abusive father (Rodney Dangerfield) and grossly negligent mother (Edie McClurg), the anomic couple take off on a three-week killing spree across the country, telling everyone who they are so that they get the credit for their crimes. The media are immediately enthralled with the couple, especially Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.), the bloodthirsty host of a tabloid TV show who follows their every move. By the time they're finally arrested, they've become such huge media stars that the cops treat them more like celebrities than criminals. Even the maniacal limelight-hogging warden of the Batongaville State Prison, Dwight McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones), is in awe. Stone pulls out all the stops in the prison riot, as the unwitting Gale becomes an unwilling participant in his own broadcast of the event. Again the director switches from film to video, from color to black and white, from sitcom parody to newsreel parody, and from one film stock to another, hoping to jar the audience out of its complacency with visual hyperbole. [More]
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey, Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey, Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Rodney Dangerfield
Director: Oliver Stone
Director: Oliver Stone
Screenwriter: David Veloz
Story: Quentin Tarantino
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Reviews for Natural Born Killers
Berserk from the outset, Natural Born Killers lunges for our collective viscera in its opening sequence (surely one of the most brilliant establishing sequences of all time) and never lets go for the next two hours.
Don't miss this and it's brilliance on so many different levels; film making, acting, directing, editing, soundtrack and of course the whole twisted backbone of the thing -- Quentin Tarantino's script.
Seeing this movie once is not enough. The first time is for the visceral experience, the second time is for the meaning.
Stone's attempt to break new ground with stylized visuals, MTV editing and a story that combines parody and satire, is more annoying than enlightening.
Stone has guts, I'll grant him that; but he needn't have spilled so much of it in our laps.
[Stone's] idea of subtlety is to put a velvet Crown Royale sack over a hammer before he smacks you in the face with it repeatedly.
One of the most dazzling, audacious and timely films, a feverish nightmare of American culture at its worst, which might explain the heated controversy and legal battles caused directly by Stone's picture.
An incoherent, experimental acid trip so unbearably pretentious that it gave me newfound respect for the Warren Commission. A real torture test.
NBK brilliantly leaves the attentive viewer with more questions as to whether they’re part of the solution or the problem itself.
Profane, hallucinogenic, and wickedly satirical, Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers mainlined a message from hell (a.k.a. modern America, as seen by Stone) into mall theatres and multiplexes. [Blu-Ray]
The film's delightful to watch, mainly because it appears to be the largest budgeted student film ever made.
Oliver Stone does an amazing job behind the camera, and the editing is totally delirious: it's one of the most visually dazzling films I've ever seen.
Made in the style of an MTV video...Natural Born Killers is exactly the kind of bullying, mindless assault that Stone excoriates the media for perpetrating.
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 82% 82% | Paranormal Activity |
| 58% 58% | 9 |
| 44% 44% | Jennifer's Body |
| 58% 58% | A Perfect Getaway |
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