138. Natural Born Killers (1994)

You'll never understand, Wayne. You and me, we're not even the same species. I used to be you, then I evolved. From where you're standing, you're a man. From where I'm standing, you're an ape. You're not even an ape. You're a media person. Media's like the weather, only it's man-made weather. Murder? It's pure. You're the one made it impure. You're buying and selling fear. You say "why?" I say "why bother?"

There are three types of violence in movies. The first is hyper-realistic violence meant to show the viewer what something was really like. This is usually used in historical epics like "Braveheart" or "The Passion of the Christ". The second is gore. This is the type of violence meant to elicit a thrilling, horrific, or sometimes even humorous responce. This can be as tame as a blood spatter in a cop movie or as over-the-top as "torture-porn" in movies like "Saw" or "Hostel". The third type is fantasy violence (and not "Lord of the Rings" fantasy). This violence is unrealistic, super-stylized, and usually meant to elicit an emotional (or even esthetic) response. The first style is understandable because the filmmaker is telling an accurate story. The second, most of the time I find to be unneccesary and offensive (the exception to this is in movies that are truly inventive such as "Audition" or Rob Zombie horror films). The third type though is what is found in this movie.

I must warn, "Natural Born Killers" is probably the most unapologetically violent film I have ever seen. Mickey and Mallory Knox drive across the country killing pretty much everyone on their way with no good reason. Still, the violence is presented as evidence of the directors theme instead of being useless gore. The violence is also extremely unrealistic and, for lack of a better word, artsy. For this reason, I don't really find that part of this movie very offensive. What is offensive is the much more realistic portrayal of the media's attention to Mickey and Mallory's killing spree. Robert Downey Jr. is flawless as the Geraldo Rivera-esque news magazine anchor that seeks to milk the killing spree of every drop of its ratings. The most powerful thing about the film is that it makes the viewer question who the real demons are. To pervert an Obi-wan quotation: "Who's the more demonic, the demon or the demon who exploits him?"