Natural Born Killers

Heavy-handed as Oliver Stone might be, this is his magnum opus. "Natural Born Killers" is a vivid catalogue of how to push cinema to its ultimate extremes with the usage of every film stock known to man, acid-jazz editing and one hell of a soundtrack. Mickey and Mallory Knox are not killing for pure fun; they are killing as an attempt to destroy the hatred that is brewing in every piece of pop culture's junk yard. The greatness of the film lies in their failure to do so. \nUnfortunately, this DVD fails where the film triumphs. First off, it features only the film's Director's Cut, which features extra gore and an ending lacking the umph of Nine Inch Nail's "Burn." The original cut would have served as a good comparison (since Warner Brothers owns the first cut and Trimark owns the director's cut, this DVD dream will probably never come true). Secondly, while the DVD captures the vibrant colors and sounds of the film, dirt specks are sometimes apparent. Finally, the extras are almost exactly the same on the video release. The only notable and disappointing differences are an added commentary track with Stone where he sounds high half the time and the notable deletion of the video for "Burn." \nIn the end, this DVD is worth owning if only to experience one of the greatest films of the 1990s in its best available home-viewing form.