Questions about Natural Born Killers (1994 druggy shooty film)

[BJBMK2]

1. Why is the script so atrocious?

2. See 1.

[Noodle Lizard]

I like it. Total post-80s coked-out bollocks, career-dumbest performances for many (RDJ, TLJ), got me interested in film editing.

Granted, I haven't seen it since I was a teenager and it may well be utter shit. I remember the second half being better than the first.

[elliszeroed]

Was not the script originally by Tarrantino and pretty much ignored by Oliver Stone?

[elliszeroed]

Posted too early!

An article about the script and movie

[BJBMK2]

Was not the script originally by Tarrantino and pretty much ignored by Oliver Stone?

Indeed. The Tarantino draft can be found online. From what I recall, it wasn't a psychedelic jumble of satire, and was more of a straightforward crime story, told primarily from the point of view of Wayne Gale (the Downey JR journalist character). Stone shifted the emphasis to Mickey and Mallory, amongst many, many other things. Hence Quentin's "Story By" credit.

EDIT: I also posted too early, amirightlads?

[QDRPHNC]

Tarantino's version would have been interesting to see, but in hindsight the fact that Oliver Stone made a Tarantino script is truly mad, and could only have happened in that brief 2 or 3 year window between Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. It's a big glorious mess and I love it. Stone does seem to be an arse in general, but you could never accuse the man of not throwing himself completely into his work, and I think there are parts of NBK that are still startlingly beautiful and horrific even thirty years on,

Maybe one for the bleak documentaries thread, but the chaotic final riot scene was based on a real event at New Mexico Penitentiary. Very interesting, but some very, very awful stuff went down, so NSFL:

[Ferris]

Is that the one with the blowtorch? Some very bleak stuff if so. Cutting open the cells one by one... brrr.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Mostly saw it as a second rate Wild at Heart.

[Joe Oakes]

Was not the script originally by Tarrantino and pretty much ignored by Oliver Stone?

To be fair to Oliver Stone, it would have been a 4 hour film if he hadn't cut the lingering feet shots and N words.

[Noodle Lizard]

To be fair to Oliver Stone, it would have been a 4 hour film if he hadn't cut the lingering feet shots and N words.

I'm surprised he drew the line at that sitcom bit, it's no more obnoxious than some of the shit he was doing in the Kill Bills.

Come to think of it, no actors from NBK have been in anything of Tarantino's, have they?

[BJBMK2]

I'm surprised he drew the line at that sitcom bit, it's no more obnoxious than some of the shit he was doing in the Kill Bills.

Come to think of it, no actors from NBK have been in anything of Tarantino's, have they?

Unless you count Juliette Lewis's turn in From Dusk Till Dawn. I did spot a couple of Tarantino-adjacent faces in NBK upon rewatching it (Marvin Nash, the cop sans ear from Reservoir Dogs, plays one of the TV crew).

[Noodle Lizard]

Unless you count Juliette Lewis's turn in From Dusk Till Dawn.

Oh yeah that's right.

[Bentpitch]

I've always found Juliette Lewis terrifying. I saw this in a Prague cinema in Feb 1995, and remember very little about it. Is it worth rewatching? I'm sensing no.

[Brundle-Fly]

The usage of The Specials 'Ghost Town' track in the Tommy Lee Jones prison scene is the most inappropriate and jarring music cue 'that takes you out of a film' ever. Only slightly surpassed by 'London's Calling' by The Clash in Die Another Day(2002)

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I always find Oliver Stones films to be far too nihilistic to enjoy, and this is one of them. There's never any joy in them, no levity, just endless depressing shit till death. You can make a dark film, but give us some moments of hope, or else what is point?

[Blumf]

Mostly saw it as a second rate Wild at Heart.

Seen it suggested that Lost Highway was (in part) a response to Stone nicking Lynch's shtick.

[Noodle Lizard]

I've always found Juliette Lewis terrifying. I saw this in a Prague cinema in Feb 1995, and remember very little about it. Is it worth rewatching? I'm sensing no.

Yes, it is! It's formally unique, for better or worse.

[Sean Ymphs]

Seen it suggested that Lost Highway was (in part) a response to Stone nicking Lynch's shtick.

The last time I watched NBK, after seeing Lost Highway, a scene jumped out at me

Spoiler alert

where Balthazar Getty plays a gas station attendant. He makes out with Juliette Lewis and she tells him to say "I want you"

In Lost Highway, Balthazar Getty plays a mechanic. Near the end of the film he's shagging Patricia Arquette and says "I want you" repeatedly. When they finish, Arquette says to him "You'll never have me"

[close]

[Memorex MP3]

1. Why is the script so atrocious?

2. See 1.

It'd be a total waste of time letting Juliette Lewis near any better of a script, a profoundly terrible screen presence

[greenman]

If your looking something slightly sub Tarantino bad taste from that era which is decent I'd recommend Romero Is Bleeding, does have Juilette Lewis in it as well but balanced out by Lena Olin playing a gloriously demented assassin.

[Sebastian Cobb]

If your looking something slightly sub Tarantino bad taste from that era which is decent I'd recommend Romero Is Bleeding, does have Juilette Lewis in it as well but balanced out by Lena Olin playing a gloriously demented assassin.

I recon this film is actually decent but I think it got panned at the time for being a bit derivative.

[greenman]

I recon this film is actually decent but I think it got panned at the time for being a bit derivative.

You could argue its a bit mundane relative to Tarantino I spose but I think the stuff between Oldman and Olin works very well indeed and that the rest of the film being a bit more generic cop thriller makes that aspect going more over the top effective.

[Minami Minegishi]

I've always found Juliette Lewis terrifying. I saw this in a Prague cinema in Feb 1995, and remember very little about it. Is it worth rewatching? I'm sensing no.

Which cinema? I saw it in Prague in March 1995, but I can't remember which cinema. I think I would remember it being the Lucerne but perhaps it was.

[surreal]

One of my absolute favourite soundtrack albums ever from Trent Reznor.  Also like the Denis Leary monologue they cut out.  As you say, very of it's 2-3 year period:

[Ferris]

It's got a really nice Bob Dylan song in there too, and from a period where he was no great shakes frankly.

[lipsink]

I rewatched it on Mubi and it was the same dreadful edited version I saw on Channel 5 in the late 90s. I'm not sure if this was the same version shown in cinemas but it cuts out a lot of the violence so you've no idea what the actual fuck is going on half the time. It's definitely more impactful when you see characters like the warden and the dirty cop get their commeupance.

[El Unicornio, mang]

If your looking something slightly sub Tarantino bad taste from that era which is decent I'd recommend Romero Is Bleeding, does have Juilette Lewis in it as well but balanced out by Lena Olin playing a gloriously demented assassin.

Ah yeah, this scene has always stuck with me