Natural Born Killers

Mickey (Harrelson) and Mallory (Lewis) are white-trash low-lifes who get their kicks from killin' just about anybody who gets in their way. Their antics are covered by scumbag talk-show host Wayne Gale (Downey) whose reports turn the pair into folk heroes. Meanwhile, detective Jack Scagnetti (Sizemore) is determined to put them behind bars. Trailing hype and tabloid hysteria in its wake, Stone's film is at once a phenomenon and unremarkable. True, it's technically extraordinary; with the director resorting to a frantic collage of film and video, b/w and colour, back- and front-projection, fast and slow motion to develop his thesis that crime and violence are fanned by sensationalist media attention. At least that's what he seems to be saying. Basically, the story is just a tarted up variation of the Badlands/Wild at Heart scenario, with ultra-broad swipes at media and authority figures tossed in for good measure. The actors are given no space to build up characters, and the film's main 'virtue' is that it's nowhere near as explicit as the tabloids suggested. Turgid.