Blu-ray Review

Natural Born Killers: The Director's Cut

Official Synopsis:

Oliver Stone delivers a powerful movie unlike any other: Natural Born Killers, a visually dazzling, wickedly funny slam of violence and media obsession that's "the most radical film any major studio has released since A Clockwork Orange" (Stephen Schiff, The New Yorker). As fugitive serial killers Mickey and Mallory, Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play crazymixedup kids a demon has nightmares about. And Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore and Rodney Dangerfield make vivid impressions in this wild ride that packs a wallop.

Our Take:

Back when Quentin Tarantino was still selling scripts and stories in Hollywood to earn enough to direct, his “re-imagining” of Bonnie and Clyde fell into the lap of Oliver Stone. As the story goes, Stone and his co-writers re-tooled the script to the point of it nearly being unrecognizably dissimilar to Tarantino’s original. Yet Natural Born Killers turned out to be undeniably an Oliver Stone picture, even if the semi-unoriginal riffing on Arthur Penn’s seminal classic film of lovers on the run from the law is still very Tarantino-esque.

What Stone managed to do with Natural Born Killers is elevate Tarantino fanboy cinema lust into an actual statement about something outside of cinema. If Tarantino was one of the best things to come out of 90’s American Cinema, then it is easy to see why some cite Natural Born Killers as one of the best films of the decade. Stone took the exuberance and influences of a Tarantino script and made them more than the some of their cinematic allusions (something Tony Scott could not do with True Romance).

Unfortunately, immediately upon its release Natural Born Killers was stuck with the ultra-violent tag that pigeonholes many films in the eyes of a skittish morality watchdog society. It was blamed for serial killings and acts of senseless violence across the nation. The irony of course is that Oliver Stone’s intended message, which he bludgeons his audience with as only Stone knows how to do, is that media’s fascination and glorification of violence is a negative and will only lead to more violence. Of course, making an ultra-entertaining ultra-violent film to make that point, while a nice exercise in meta-thinking, was sure to draw criticism for being hypocritical.

Yet, I contend that only a truly sick mind could idolize Mallory (Juliette Lewis) and Mickey (Woody Harrelson). Stone shows these characters at their worst. He stripped the script of any cool witty dialogue it may have had thanks to Tarantino, which makes these characters seem as they are, insane serial killers with delusions of grandeur and importance. The fact that the public in the film buys into the killers’ delusions is the point. The audience on the other hand, is supposed to be smart enough to see past it. If anything, Oliver Stone overestimated the intelligence of those that would see his film; not that he should have dumbed down Natural Born Killers or anything.

Since we are talking about the violent nature of the film, this is probably the best time to distinguish this release, Natural Born Killers: The Director’s Cut from the inexplicably previously released Natural Born Killers Blu-ray release by Warner Bros. The former release is the theatrical R-rated cut of the movie. This Director’s Cut is approximately four minutes longer. That additional four minutes is spread across numerous quick scenes featuring more violence and gruesome imagery that the MPAA forced Oliver Stone to cut out of the film in order for it to get an R-rating. Ironically, it is the more over-the-top violent footage that helps drive home the satirical point of the film.

Audio & Video:

Warner Bros. has brought Natural Born Killers: The Director’s Cut out on Blu-ray utilizing a 1080p VC-1 encode. To say the films “looks good” in the traditional sense would be misleading. Oliver Stone shot the film using numerous film stocks of varying quality, from beautiful 35mm to a mere video camera. Therefore, the picture quality is intentionally erratic throughout. The scenes that were shot on 35mm will be apparent as they look beautiful and detailed. The scenes that were shot on lesser grade film stock or *gasp* video, probably look even worse than they do on DVD, as high definition increases the detail of not only the image, but the grain in lesser images as well. Yet, I am thrilled to see Natural Born Killers look like this on Blu-ray. It is a complete preservation of Oliver Stone’s intentions and had they run the film through the DNR Wash, it would have been a travesty. Kudos to Warner Bros. for maintaining the artistic integrity of an important film from an American auteur.

The audio track is a robust Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround track that, with all the gunfire and noise in the film, will give your speakers a workout. The film’s eclectic soundtrack (NIN, Dr. Dre, Leonard Cohen, and more) is ably handled throughout. There is some differentiation on the track between dialogue clarity between the footage shot on video and that shot on 35mm, but again, another intended element. If the entire film sounded perfect as the video stock changed, it would be insincere.

Overall, fans of the film will be pleased with the A/V package here, while those unfamiliar with Natural Born Killers and its intended style will probably think this is a terrible looking and inconsistent sounding film.

Special Features (Blu-ray Exclusive):

Natural Born Killers was first released by Warner Bros. on Blu-ray in a Digibook package featuring 40-pages of cast biographies and articles about the film. The current release is housed in a standard Blu-ray snap case, but the Digibook has been reprinted as just a regular 40-page booklet and included inside the case. All of the supplemental features from the original release have been ported over along with a couple of new treats as well.

Introduction by Oliver Stone (4 minutes)
NBK Evolution: How Would It All Go Down Now? (22 minutes) – Presented in high definition the cast and crew looks back on the film and how it would’ve played out if made today

Special Features (Standard):

Audio Commentary by Oliver Stone
Chaos Rising: The Storm Around Natural Born Killers (27 minutes) – Nicely included after many complained about its absence from the first Blu-ray release, but included on previous DVD versions of the film.
Charlie Rose Interview of Oliver Stone (12 minutes)
Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending (27 minutes) – Seven scenes. The alternate ending is introduced by Oliver Stone.
Theatrical Trailer

Conclusion:

Natural Born Killers: The Director’s Cut is the definitive version of the film available on Blu-ray and for home viewing. Of course this only makes it more maddening that Warner Bros. felt the need to milk out some extra cash from fans by releasing the theatrical cut sans these features mere months ago. Hopefully, you fought the urge to own a compromised version of the film the first go around and will enjoy this. But, as much as it pains me to say it, even if you already own the first Blu-ray release, Natural Born Killers: The Director’s Cut is…

MANDATORY!

Overall Picture:

Movie: A (for preserving the director's intent)
Video: A
Audio: B+
Extra Features: A

- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer