Natural Born Killers (1994): Hatred and "Style Over Substance"

Natural Born Killers (1994)... what a load of shit. Some people will say this film is genius and groundbreaking, but, frankly, all I see is see is misunderstood angst. It’s so edgy in the worst way. This film is the redheaded stepchild of two minds; Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone. Quentin Tarantino is the first of four credited writers and that’s the first problem. This movie feels so disjointed and the fact that this spectacular writer has his name attached to it is a slap in the face.

“Disjointed” is, perhaps, the wrong word. More like insanely/

confusingly/ horribly paced/ edited/ acted/ directed/ shot/ EVERYTHING. By now, you can probably tell that I HATE this movie. I just don’t get what the appeal is. Why are there parts in black and white? Why are there parts that are green? WHY DOES ANYTHING IN THIS MOVIE HAPPEN?

Now, before I go any further, I should say that I am somewhat unfamiliar with Oliver Stone, I’ve seen a handful of his films and I like a few of them. Platoon (1986) is a pretty good film. I even own Born on the Fourth of July (1989). But this… this I don’t get. This is the director of Wall Street: Money Never sleeps (2010)? How?

This movie made me dislike Woody Harrelson and hate (with a burning passion) Juliette Lewis. Their performances are so over the top that they’re unbearable, but not too over the top that they’re laughable. The laughable performances are from Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Downey Jr. I can only imagine that they knew exactly how bad the film they were in was so they just didn’t give a shit. Both of them, especially Jones, are wonderful though. They are the only positive of the movie.

Overall, there’s not much to say about this other than that it is the very definition of “style over substance.” I hate that term, but it’s the best way to describe this film. It’s the bad version of Badlands (1973). So ends my brief review of this movie not deserving of your time. 1/10 (for Tommy Lee Jones).