Rating: 
Summary: a blistering, misunderstood media satire
Review: When this movie was released theatrically, all I heard about was the violence. When I finally saw "Natural Born Killers" on video, I was thinking it wasn't that violent at all. And when I watched it a second time, Oliver Stone's intention--to make a movie satirizing the media that employed the empty, flashy style of a music video--became clear. NBK is about excess, media, and our embrace and fascination with seeing the televised courtroom antics of condemned killers (the Menendez Bros., OJ Simpson, etc.).Fueling the sensationalism here is the murderous Mickey and Mallory Knox, two young adults who view killing people as nothing different than animals hunting each other down in the forest. The movie follows their brief rampage through New Mexico, in which 52 civilians are left dead, their capture and arrest, and their escape from prison. In Stone's hands, the movie is indeed bombastic and constantly pummeling the viewer with different film stocks, stock footage, and loud violence. But his intent is set on making a media satire that, while you watch, resembles channel-surfing from one station to the next. As a result, "Natural Born Killers" seldom lags, because there's always something there to keep your attention. The performances are excellent. This is probably the best of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis (I was in stitches over the "I Love Mallory" parody TV show). Robert Downey Jr., as usual, is a great, skillful presence; his portrayal of Wayne Gale, a sleazy tabloid journalist obsessed with M&M, is hilarious. And Rodney Dangerfield steals his early scenes as Mallory's drunken, perverted dad. Not only is "Natural Born Killers" a satire with teeth, it's one of the most risk-taking films of the past decade. It's in good company with other underrated and misunderstood movies like "Fight Club" and "American Psycho." Rent it, look past the violence, and you'll probably see the humor in it all.
Rating:
Summary: A wild & satirical ride
Review: Oliver Stone's controversial film is still unavailable in the UK. It tells the story of a couple, Mickey & Mallory, who go on a wild crime spree, and are adored by sections of the media. Stone uses different film stock; animation; in fact, all kinds of different film methods to get his biting satire on violence in the media across. It is a wild and violent ride, and also features a good soundtrack. The DVD is well put together. The menus are animated well, but disappointingly have no sound. The picture is in widescreen, but not anamorphic, but it's still a good image. The sound is in Dolby digital 5.1, and is a good mix; the music stands out in this film, as well as the gunfire. The extras include a commentary by director Oliver Stone. He comments on many things about the film, and why he made it his way. The other material is some deleted scenes, each with an introduction by Oliver Stone, who explains that he would have liked to have included some of them in the final cut. There's also a trailer, and a easter egg showing some of the distribution company's other titles. There's also some interviews with the cast & crew. All in all, this is a must own disc for fans of notorious & controversial films.
Rating: 
Summary: Engrosing satire on America's obsession with violence
Review: When NBK first came out, it was either apluaded or hated. In other words, there was very little middle ground. Many said this was due to the controversial nature of the film; I would voice no disagreement to that. NBK was part comedy, part horror and part anguish- it mirrored life, but with a stained glass. Much of what the director, Oliver Stone, was attepting to accomplish with this film consisted of awakening people to the rampant hypocrisy that is evident all around us- we claim at once to be horrified at the violence we see, yet we are, undoubtedly, entertained by the talk shows that market such violence. Oliver Stone was not trying to make a case for those that commit violent acts; he was adressing the way we react to such violence. Obviously, people will have mixed feeling concerning the film- as I stated before, you will either love it or hate it. What's important here is not really your feelings concerning the film, it's instead the relevancy of the questions posed and how you answer them to yourself. It asks your awareness. It does not speak down to you. It assumes you are an intelligent, thinking person who is concerned with the crisis of our times. Love it or hate it, NBK is bound to make you question human behaivior and conduct.
Rating:
Summary: What's a myth in a non-mythic age?
Review: As did Kubrick in "Clockwork Orange," Oliver Stone is dealing with violence in a blackly-humorous way, reminiscent of Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus." The difficulty with "understanding" Stone's NBK is our modern tendency -- as Joseph Campbell remarked -- of interpreting art sociologically. Oliver Stone is a big fan of Campbell, and well aware of the death of our mythologies. NBK luridly confronts what happens to a culture and its people when their mythology has perished. The film clearly isn't just commentary on violent America, then. NBK depicts, with considerable black humor, how people living in a cultural vacuum of dead myths violently struggle to create their own mythologies. The killers, Mickey and Mallory, are psychotic, schizophrenic -- who knows? But schizophrenia is, at root, an inability to derive meaning from the symbols around one. The pair, adrift in a culture devoid of meaningful symbols, try to fill this awful psychological void with a smorgasbord of comic heroes, game shows, sit-coms, and personal childhood and courtship rituals. Invoking Campbell once more, what's happening to the protagonists is identical to what occurs to primitive societies exposed to "white man's culture": they collapse, succumb to vice, and "dis-integrate." The killers have internalized the cultural models "appropriate" to their time, and (naturally) rebel against everything around them. Meantime, they are struggling to establish a meaningful personal mythology of their own throughout the film: the marriage vows on the bridge, the "communion with angels" scene, their superstitious reverence for a small kindness done them, as though it were an epiphany from Heaven itself -- (the Indian's death greatly distresses them: "You've killed Life!"), the ritual act of mercy at each of their mass murders, so on. The film raises a few hairs on the neck, at least for me, because Stone confrontationally asks what have we become and where are we going, and what NBK seems to be saying, at least to me, is that beneath the complacent order of commercialism, career, suburbia, television, and all we've come to accept as "the way we were," there is a very real and disturbing primal chaos: not the chaos of being human, but the chaos of being human in a dehumanized world.
Rating:
Summary: Best film
Review: I've watched this film so many times I've got past the violence - its not just to do with that. Its taking the piss out of people who love violence. Now I see a great love story and above all I see the best cinematography - I've never seen anything like it before. The only comparisons I could make would be in 'JFK', 'Un Bout de Souffle', and 'Man Bites Dog'. I love the sitcom parody, and the way the camera style changes so often, I cannot see how anyone could not find this one of the most compelling films ever. It rocked me. This isn't just any old Resevoir Dogs/texas chainsaw massacre film. If it's not your bag - just see past the violence and stop slagging it off. By the way if those kids who went on the killing spree in real life hadnt seen the film they would have done it anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't see this movie...
Review: I want to see this movie, but how? The DVD version has problems, it was wrong done. Too bad...
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Movie I Ever Saw
Review: Without a doubt, the worst movie I ever saw. I remember sitting in the theatre, looking downwards when coming to another boring inevitable murder, and then turning to a friend, and saying: someone's going to take this movie seriously and go on a real life murder rampage. I was right. Unfortunately. Sometimes you have to be responsible for your work. Stone recklessly made this garbage only to make money. He should have known that some whackos would take this seriously and go out and kill to be popular. I remember the scene where some demonstrators were holding up signs saying 'Kill me' or 'Murder me', and thinking how utterly stupid this movie was, and how stupid Stone thinks his audience is. I feel so sorry for those real life poor innocent people who were killed by the teenagers who watched this movie repeatedly and then were killed. They didn't have to die. What price does freedom of expression come with? For the innocents, their lives. Have we gone completely mad?
Rating:
Summary: A Truly dazzling cinematic experience
Review: I won't endorse "Natural Born Killers" as a true masterpiece, but it comes close. I just saw this film for the first time and it is unlike anything you have seen before, the editing is so fast that your head will be spinning while you watch this. A lot of people complained that this film is a mess directed by a hack. I personally think Oliver Stone is one of the best directors around. "Natural Born Killers" is a very hyper movie it never stops for a second, Stone switches from Color to Black and White to 8mm to animation, it employs virtually every visual cinematic trick in existence. I think it was actually very clever by Stone to use different film stocks, the most violent scenes in the movie are in black and white and that lessens the impact of the violence. You don't watch this movie you experience it. See the movie for yourself and decide.
Rating:
Summary: UNBELIAVABLY BAD
Review: This so-called "polemic" director, who already gave us the masterpiece PLATOON, the entertaining "ANY GIVEN SUNDAY", the intriguing "JFK" and others, reached the lowest part of his career in this lousy picture, one of the worst thing I ever watched. Of course his "good" intentions were clear: criticize the American press love for news of violence, etc, etc. But the way he chose to do that was outrageous: half way through the movie, you can't watch it anymore, so bad it is, so bad taste, so ridiculous. This is no surprise, taking in consideration the fact that "Blood lover" QUentin Tarantino wrote this garbage... Watching this, you'll only be adding polution to your brains ..
Rating:
Summary: Utter Garbage
Review: The only film that I've seen where I wanted to walk out of the theater. Is Oliver Stone insane? Yes, I understand that this was a critical fave and that Stone is a "pioneer" in showing emotion through imagery, but this was too extreme. I literally had a headache after this film (Stone employs all the different film aspects: 35 mm, 8 mm, B/W, animation). I wasn't impressed by the "media's sensationalism of crime" message that was subliminally put forth. Subliminal nothing. You're knocked over the head with it! Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. Their crime sprees and murders are documented by Robert Downey Jr who plays a tabloid television reporter. While the crimes these two commit are heinous, Stone paints them as likable characters (at least that's what he wants the audience to feel). Word of advice: Instead of returning this movie to the video drop at your local Blockbuster, throw it in the trash where it belongs.
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