Natural Born Killers

Directed by Oliver Stone, Natural Born Killers is the story of a two lovers who become mass murderers as they are glorified by the mass media as a TV show host hopes to exploit them during their prison stay. Screenplay from Stone, Dave Veloz, and Richard Rutowski from an original story by Quentin Tarantino, the film is an exploration into the world of violence showcased through a media hungry for violence in a culture obsessed with serial killers and mass murders. Starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Sizemore, and Tommy Lee Jones. Natural Born Killers is an insane yet exhilarating film from Oliver Stone.

Serial killers Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) are on a trip around the American Southwest as they’re on a killing spree. Spurred by traumatic childhood events and living in troubled homes, the two meet one day as they fall in love and later kill Mallory’s parents. Following them in their road of terror is TV journalist Wayne Gale whose TV show American Maniacs has made them cult heroes. Also after them is a psychopathic detective named Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore) who has been obsessed with Mallory. While lost in the desert, Mickey and Mallory meet up with a Navajo Indian named Warren Red Cloud (Russell Means) and his grandson (Jeremiah Bitsui) who is aware of the demons the two carries.

During a ceremony where Mickey and Mallory are asleep, Mickey has a nightmare where he wakes up and accidentally kills Red Cloud. Guilty over what happened and bitten by snakes, Mickey and Mallory try to get some snakebite antidote where they’re suddenly captured by Scagnetti and police officers as it’s captured by a Japanese news crew. One year later, Mickey and Mallory at Batonga Penitentiary run by Warden Dwight McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones) who had put them in different cells as they’re both set to be transferred to a mental hospital. Wayne Gale is also at the prison to set up a TV interview with Mickey for his show while McClusky and Scagnetti are conspiring to kill them during the transfer.

On the night of Wayne Gale’s interview with Mickey Knox where Mickey reveals his reasons for being a killer as a riot is incited and all hell breaks loose. Gale and his crew capture the riots as Mickey hopes to retrieve Mallory who is being visited by Scagnetti as lots of mayhem occur. With McClusky trying to subdue control, it all leads to a showdown between Mickey, Mallory, and Wayne Gale against McClusky and his guards as it’s presented live on TV.

The film is essentially the story of a young couple who become serial killers as they’re being exploited by a TV journalist who wants to give the public an appetite for chaos and mayhem. Eventually, things come to ahead in prison where the couple deal with a psychotic detective, a crazed warden, and the TV journalist as it leads to all sorts of things in a prison riot. The film is really more of an exploration into how the media is willing to exploit death just for the sake of ratings with no sense of remorse for anyone including the killers themselves. It is a satirical reflection of what was happening in the 1990s when sensational TV became part of the norm as the public become obsessed with serial killers and courtroom television.

The screenplay by Oliver Stone, Dave Veloz, and Richard Rutowski is essentially multi-layered as it doesn’t exactly play to a conventional narrative structure. The film opens with Mickey and Mallory at a diner and later killing a few people in the process just to establish what kind of people they are. While they maybe killers who are deeply in love with each other, they do have some sense of compassion and will always leave someone alive to tell the story. Plus, they’re people who come from very unhappy homes as Mickey is abused by his father and watched his father die. Mallory comes from a family where her father (Rodney Dangerfield) molests her and a mother (Edie McClurg) who doesn’t really do anything. Both Mickey and Mallory kill as they’re both trying to deal with ill of the world as they’re also carrying demons around them.

The moment they meet Warren Red Cloud becomes a key plot point where they meet someone who knows what they’re about as he offers them shelter and a chance to be free from their demons but an accident will have them carry the guilt of killing someone who was really a good person. This moment would become the catalyst for their downfall as the film is sort of told in a non-linear fashion where the reports about their killings are shown through Wayne Gale’s TV show. Wayne Gale is a very important character to the film as he’s a man that represents the media as a whole. Here is someone who is willing to exploit the world of serial killing on his TV show as he finds Mickey and Mallory Knox as the perfect patsies for what he needs in his quest for big ratings. Gale is a character that is slightly over-the-top as he definitely becomes a lot crazier in the third act.

Then there’s characters like Jack Scagnetti and Dwight McClusky who are men who definitely despise serial killers. Scagnetti is a detective whose mother was killed by Charles Whitman as he has a very sick obsession towards Mallory. McClusky is a man that simply likes to maintain control in his prison and doesn’t really care who he has in his prison as he treats them like animals with no sense of remorse or compassion. For Mickey and Mallory, McClusky and Scagnetti are just people that represent true evil while Wayne Gale is also another manifestation of evil in something that isn’t even manmade.

Stone’s direction is definitely hyper-stylized and extravagant as he goes all-out with the film. The overall presentation isn’t meant to be realistic but rather surrealistic as it features scenes with film screen backdrops to create a road movie of sorts that is far removed from reality. There’s also lots of moments in locations set in Southwest America where they are in a real world but it feels very abstract as Stone would often create moments where the camera work is off and he puts in strange visual tricks. The sequence where Mickey meets Mallory for the first time is presented in a farcical TV sitcom as it would also include bits of strange hand-drawn animated sequences. Since the film is also a satire on the media’s sensational reporting on killing, Stone would create scenes that is presented in a documentary-like fashion where TV is king as people often celebrate the antics of Mickey and Mallory.

While Stone does manage to keep things a bit straightforward in the third act, he definitely goes all-out and more for the film’s climatic riot. Particularly as he aims for a cinema verite style where he uses TV cameras and such to capture what is going on. The violence throughout the film is graphic and unsettling (much more so in its unrated director’s cut) as Stone amps it up in the riot where there’s more people killed and the violence is almost uncontrollable. The film’s ending definitely reveals how much the world was obsessed with violence and chaos as it’s a moment where Stone taking a shot at the exploitation of violence. Overall, Stone creates a truly dazzling yet provocative film that explores the world of media and its fascination with serial killers.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson does incredible work with the cinematography where he infuses all sorts of visual styles from grainy camera work, flashy lighting schemes, black-and-white, and other array of lighting styles to play up the surreal world that Stone wanted. Editors Hank Corwin and Brian Berdan do amazing work with the editing by going into an array of various cutting styles from jump-cuts, dissolves, and other methods to maintain something that is unconventional in its approach to pacing. Production designer Victor Kempster, along with art directors Alan Tomkins and Margery Zweizig and set decorator Merideth Boswell, does brilliant work with the sets from the backdrops that are created to some of the sets such as the supermarket that Mickey and Mallory go to find some snake antidote.

Costume designer Richard Hornhung does terrific work with the costumes from the stylish clothes that Mickey and Mallory wear in their road trip to the bloody convict suits they wear during the riot. Sound editors Wylie Stateman and Michael D. Wilhoit, along with sound designers Scott Michael Gershin and David Kneupper, do superb work with the sound to capture the chaos of the prison as well as the moments in the locations the characters encounter.

Music supervisor Budd Carr creates a truly dazzling music soundtrack in collaboration with its producer Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Along with some music from NIN including the song Burn, the soundtrack features an array of music from Leonard Cohen, L7, Patti Smith, Jane’s Addiction, Dr. Dre, Tha Dogg Pound, Patsy Cline, Bob Dylan, Cowboy Junkies, Duane Eddy, Peter Gabriel and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Lard, and other artists in a collage of pieces. Additional contributions that isn’t in the album soundtrack includes Marilyn Manson, Rage Against the Machine, the Specials, the Shangri-Las, and a few others as it’s definitely one of the great film soundtracks of the 1990s.

The casting by Risa Bramon Garcia, Billy Hopkins, and Heidi Levitt is fantastic for the ensemble that is created. In some small but notable appearances, there’s Adrien Brody as a cameraman, Arliss Howard as a mysterious convict, James Gammon as a redneck at the diner, Mark Harmon and Corey Everson as TV actors playing Mickey and Mallory, O-Lan Jones as a diner waitress, Steven Wright as a criminal psychiatrist that Gale interviews, and Balthazar Getty as a gas station attendant who has sex with Mallory. Other noteworthy small roles include Pruitt Taylor Vince, Joe Grifasi, and Louis Lombardi as prison guards, Sean Stone as Mallory’s little brother Kevin, Jeremiah Bitsui as the Indian’s grandson, Edie McClurg as Mallory’s mother, and Rodney Dangerfield in a shocking performance as Mallory’s abusive father.

Russell Means is excellent in a small but crucial role as the Navajo Indian that Mickey and Mallory meet who would become the one person that they see is the personification of everything that is good. Tom Sizemore is great as the psychotic detective Jack Scagnetti who has a sick obsession with killers as he hopes to become a legend in killing Mickey and Mallory. Tommy Lee Jones is superb as the cartoonish Warden Dwight McClusky where Jones brings an intensity to a madman who hates Mickey and Mallory where he tries to be this terrifying authority figure. Robert Downey Jr. is amazing as Wayne Gale where Downey sports an Australian accent as a man just hell-bent on getting the story of a lifetime where he gets more than he bargains for.

Finally, there’s the duo of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in their respective roles as Mickey and Mallory Knox. Harrelson provides a cool yet darkly-humor approach to his character as well as a charisma that is just intoxicating to watch. Lewis is more angelic in her persona but also far more aggressive as she too brings some humor to her character. Together, they make one hell of a combo as they radiate chemistry when they’re in love or when they’re fighting as they make Mickey and Mallory Knox some of the coolest characters on film.

Natural Born Killers is a sick, twisted, extravagant, and ugly film from Oliver Stone yet it’s a whole lot of fun to watch. Thanks to some amazing technical work, a kick-ass soundtrack, and outstanding performances from Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. It’s truly a film that really captures the insanity of 1990s-media obsession with murder. It’s also a film that isn’t for the faint of heart as well as something that shouldn’t be taken seriously. In the end, Natural Born Killers is a fucked-up yet sensational wild ride from Oliver Stone.

Oliver Stone Films: (Seizure) - (The Hand) - (Salvador) - (Platoon) - (Wall Street) - (Talk Radio) - (Born on the 4th of July) - (The Doors) - (JFK) - (Heaven & Earth) - (Nixon) - (U Turn) - (Any Given Sunday) - (Persona Non Grata) - (Comandante) - (Looking for Fidel) - (Alexander) - (World Trade Center) - (W.) - (South of the Border) - (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) - (Savages (2012 film)) - (Snowden)

Related: Natural Born Killers OST

© thevoid99 2012

Full Metal Jacket

Based on the short story The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, Full Metal Jacket is the story of a young man joining the Marines in the mid-1960s as he endures brutal basic training in the hands of a sadistic drill sergeant. Then he becomes a war journalist in Vietnam as he would take part in the Tet Offensive as he comes to grips with the idea of war. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and adapted into script by Kubrick, Hasford, and Michael Herr, the film explores a young man’s outlook in the Vietnam war as he reflects on everything he’s experienced. Starring Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Arliss Howard, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, Kevyn Major Howard, and R. Lee Emrey. Full Metal Jacket is a visceral and entrancing war film from Stanley Kubrick.

James T. “Joker” Davis (Matthew Modine) is at Parris Islands as a new recruit for the U.S. Marine Corps along with Robert “Cowboy” Evans (Arliss Howard) and Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio). Under the guidance of the verbally-abusive drill instructor Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann (R. Lee Emrey), Joker, Cowboy, and Lawrence endure basic training as Hartmann calls Lawrence “Gomer Pyle” due to his overweight and slow-witted personality. While Joker gets promoted to squad leader, he tries to help Lawrence out with basic training only for things to go wrong when Hartmann finds a jelly donut in Lawrence’s locker trunk. The whole squad gets punished leading them to retaliate by hazing Lawrence as he eventually becomes a model soldier. Upon graduation, Joker begins to worry about Lawrence’s state of mind as he would witness a chilling incident.

One year later, Joker is now a war journalist writing for Stars & Stripes as he’s joined by photographer in Ptv. First Class Rafter Man (Kevyn Major Howard) covering the war. Both are looking for action as Joker needs a story despite the fact that his superior (John Terry) wants something that will boost morale of the already unpopular war. After their base is attacked by North Vietnamese troops, Joker and Rafter Man go on assignment to cover the war where Joker is reunited with Cowboy who is part of a squad that features the witty Eightball (Dorian Harewood) and the brash Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin). After dealing with the intense fighting in battle along with the loss of some soldiers, Joker would later take part in another battle where he, Rafter Man, Cowboy, Eightball, and Animal Mother face off against a sniper.

The film is a two-part film of sorts about a young man joining the Marines and eventually become a soldier where he takes part in the infamous Tet Offensive of 1968 in the Vietnam War. All of this told by this young man who would endure a world that is ruthless and unforgiving as he becomes more confused by world as he tries to joke his way around these situations. During the course of his experience in basic training and then in the battlefield, he will face all sorts of brutality and moral issues that would question his own idealism. Notably in one scene where a superior officer confronts him about the peace symbol on his uniform while having the words “born to kill” on his helmet. It’s a scene where Joker tries to explain his feelings about the duality of man as he is torn between two ideals in the middle of a war.

The film’s screenplay is presented in a very unconventional structure as its first half is the exploration of basic training where its focus is on a few key men. While it is told mostly through Joker’s perspective, a lot of the film’s focus is on Leonard Lawrence who is probably the last person that should be in the Marine Corps. Here is this out-of-shape and naïve young man who starts out as this very innocent person who couldn’t finish an obstacle course and could barely get through everything else. With Joker trying to help him, Lawrence starts to eventually screw things up as his entire squad get punished while he is spared. After a brutal haze by his own squad, all of Sgt. Hartmann’s verbal abuse and the physical beating he received from his squadron would have a horrifying mental effect on this young man.

While the first half of the story is definitely the strongest due to the psychological and physical study of basic training. It’s second half is often considered to be the weakest because it’s not as engrossing as its first half. Still, it’s an interesting one where it revolves around the actual war itself where the story is still told by Joker who is trying to deal with what to tell to the world while dealing with all of its horrors. While he brags about being in combat, he has yet to kill someone directly as he ends up taking part in battle where he eventually goes head on against a sniper towards the end of the film.

The screenplay that is created is unique not just for its unconventional structure but characterization and the suspense that is created. While the first half is about the making of a Marine where recruits have to be challenged and refined by this ruthless drill instructor. The second half is about the Marine putting his training into use yet they would face things that Sgt. Hartmann is unable to teach them. There, they face death of fellow soldiers as well as the insanity that occurs in war. Notably a scene where Joker and Rafter Man are at a helicopter where a door gunner (Tim Colceri) kills countless of innocent people on their way to Hue. It’s a truly chilling script told with great care and thought by its writers.

The direction of Stanley Kubrick is definitely one of the most entrancing aspects of the film. From the way he frames a shot to the presentation of a simple shot that would say a lot. The film’s first 45-minutes at Parris Island has a directing style that is very tight, controlled, and engaging. From the opening scene of recruits getting their hair cut off to this next scene that is very striking yet simple as Sgt. Hartmann talks to his new recruits. Kubrick aims to maintain something that is unsettling and almost claustrophobic in his framing while moving the camera to capture the intensity of the marches and obstacle courses. There’s also some amazing close-ups and medium shots for Kubrick to capture the drama that occurs while using slow zoom shots to play up Leonard’s troubled stare.

While the film’s first half is more evocative and understated in its presentation, the film’s second half is much looser and playful but also more disturbing in its approach to violence and death. While the humor is very offbeat as it would involve negotiations with prostitutes, notably in the opening scene as a hooker (Papillon Soo Soo) says the lines “me so horny, me love you long time”. Some of that humor goes to dark places such as the door gunner scene as it’s a very unsettling moment though this gunner’s laugh is very maniacal. The humor is also included in a montage of soldiers talking to a crew about their experience of the war as if nothing is really wrong.

While the film is shot largely in Britain for both halves, the re-creation of both the scenes in Parris Island and Vietnam adds a very surreal element to these films where it does feel like it’s set in those places. Notably the film’s climatic battle against a sniper where the location that is filled with destroyed buildings, palm trees, fire, and dirt. The mixture of grey, black, green, blue, and orange set a tone for what Kubrick wants in terms of its lighting and suspense. The moments of violence such as the point-of-view shot from the sniper as there’s a great zoom to whom the sniper is set to shoot plays up that sense of suspense so well. The overall work that Kubrick does with this film is truly stark yet seductive for its brooding tone as he creates what is truly a mesmerizing war film.

Cinematographer Douglas Milsome does a brilliant job with the film‘s camera work to complement the differing looks for the film. From the greener yet colorful look of the Parris Island scenes in its exteriors to the dark, nighttime interiors to play up the brooding moments of the film. The wartime scenes in the Tet Offensive have a much richer approach though the camera work is much looser with tracking and handheld shots to cover the action. The lighting is also more hypnotic with bits of lenses flares and lots of fires as lights to play up the suspense as Milsome’s work is truly the film’s technical highlight.

Editor Martin Hunter does a fantastic job with the film’s stylish editing by utilizing dissolves and fade-outs for transitions along with more rhythmic cuts for the documentary montage and the rhythm of the basic training scenes. Hunter’s cutting also maintains very unconventional rhythms to play up the drama and suspense as its pacing is very methodical for the set-up of the suspense and the scenes to follow. Production designer Anton Furst, along with a team of art directors and set decorator Barbara Drake, does an amazing job with the set pieces from the clean yet wide-opened look of the Parris Islands scene to the recreation of Vietnam with its decayed buildings, base camps, and palm trees to play up the chaotic world of Hue.

Costume designer Keith Denny does some nice work with the costumes ranging from the uniforms that the soldier wear to the skimpy clothing the Vietnamese hookers wear. Sound editors Nigel Galt and Edward Tise do wonderful work with the sound from the intimacy of the Parris Island base where the soldiers sleep to the atmosphere of the battle field filled with explosions and gunfire to complement the sense of terror occurred in war. The film’s music is a wide mix of music pieces that is used for the film. Among them is its score by Vivian Kubrick, under the Abigail Mead moniker, that is a chilling ambient score used for some of the film‘s suspenseful moments. The rest of the film’s music soundtrack consists of music from the 60s like Nancy Sinatra, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, the Trashmen, the Dixie Cups, and Chris Kenner to complement some of the film’s humor or to add excitement to certain scenes. Closing the film is the Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black that serves as a fitting way to end the film.

The casting by Leon Vitali is outstanding for the ensemble that is created which features appearances from Vivian Kubrick as a camera woman at a mass grave scene, Tim Colceri as a crazed helicopter door gunner, Ed O’Ross as a platoon commander, Kieron Jecchinis and John Stafford as a couple of soldiers, Peter Edmund as an African-American recruit named Snowball, Papillon Soo Soo as a hooker who says some famous lines, and John Terry as Joker’s assignment editor. Kevyn Major Howard is very good as Joker’s combat photographer Rafter Man who is keen on wanting to get involved in the action while Dorian Harewood is terrific as the crafty and funny Eightball. Adam Baldwin is superb as the brash yet blood-thirsty Animal Mother who is willing to kill as many Vietcong soldiers while being there for his buddies.

Arliss Howard is fantastic as Cowboy, a soldier who starts off as spirited recruiter and later becoming a top soldier who is willing to head a platoon in the film’s climatic sniper-battle scene. R. Lee Emrey is phenomenal as the harsh Sgt. Hartmann who spouts very memorable lines and insults to push his recruits as it is a truly unforgettable performance for a man who was a real-life drill sergeant. Vincent D’Onofrio is amazing as the dim-witted Leonard Lawrence who tries to deal with his shortcomings and naiveté while slowly losing his mind as he becomes more chilling as the film progresses. Finally, there’s Matthew Modine in a captivating performance as Joker where Modine displays a sense of innocence and light-humor to a guy unaware about the dark implications of war as he tries to maintain a certain idealism that is later shattered by war.

Full Metal Jacket is a hypnotic yet exhilarating war film from the late Stanley Kubrick. Featuring a great ensemble cast that includes Matthew Modine, R. Lee Emrey, Vincent D’Onofrio, Arliss Howard, and Adam Baldwin. It is truly one of the great war films ever created for its study of madness, morality, and preparation. While it’s not an easy film to be engaged by due to its unconventional structure and themes of human nature in war. It’s a film that does a lot more to explore what it takes to go out there and kill the enemy while delving into the horrors of humanity along with way. In the end, Full Metal Jacket is an outstanding film from the late, great Stanley Kubrick.

Stanley Kubrick Films: Fear & Desire - Killer’s Kiss - The Killing - Paths of Glory - Spartacus - Lolita - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 2001: A Space Odyssey - A Clockwork Orange - Barry Lyndon - The Shining - Eyes Wide Shut

Related: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures - The Auteurs #18: Stanley Kubrick

© thevoid99 2012