Natural Born Killers

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Let me start out by stating that I believe Natural Born Killers will do the same for cinematography and editing innovation that Citizen Kane did for it's time (I can just hear the pompous critics out there snickering). I recently read a book which described the making of the movie from the producers perspective and here is a small sampling of some of the techniques used in this film: "cockeyed angles, 35mm color, Super 8, black-and-white video, secondary TV, newspaper echoes, exaggerated caricatures, hyperbolic acts of violence, rear and front projections, matte shots, morphing, animation, sitcom style, adjusted speeds, warped lighting, printing manipulations, and laugh tracks" and much more. The sensory stimuli unleashed on the audience is a fascinating and bizarre collage of images that is more than many can bear, but I urge you to watch this film closely several times to take in all that it holds. What many people fail to realize is that this film is a condemnation or satire on violence and it's role in the media and pop-culture...not a celebration of violence. The O.J. trial, Menedez brothers, Bobit, and many others were being obsessed over in the media and tabloid television at the time NBK was produced. It's as if Stone was holding a mirror up to our society in order to slam home the message. -Review by Aaron Caldwell