This is a big, loud, colorful tragicomic and articulate satire on human society, media, politics and the most inner desire and organic need of man to destroy. There has been criticism on the high content of violence, and has been categorized as instigating, but it's actually quite obvious that it's just a satiric view of contemporary "personal success" driven society. All characters are natural born killers, not only the ones doing the actual killing. They are all shown as predators with no morals, who will do anything to achieve their goals. The movie will take you flying, smash your brains and feast your eyes..., it will feed your senses, it will make you love it and hate it. Combining the brilliant early writing skills of Tarantino, Oliver Stone's addiction to violence with the brilliant performance of Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, and all the supporting cast(Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Sizemore and Tommy Lee Jones). Fantastic soundtrack and graphics. It's THE eye opener. The ultimate 90's movie.

It's a ride!

Oliver Stone's indictment of the media told through the story of young lovers on the run, serial killers Mickey and Mallory Knox, Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. Based on an early script by Quentin Tartantino, Tarantino took his name off of the film and instead asked for only a "story" credit. He's been quoted as saying if you love the film, that was Oliver, if you hated the film, that was Oliver, essentially disavowing the film, which I didn't really see why he'd want to distance himself from it at the time, but rewatching the film now, it was a smart move on his part to distance himself from this mess. I was shocked by how poorly this film has aged. It may be a case of it having been imitated so many times since then, both in terms of style and content, that the film has lost it's original impact; much like rewatching the original version of "The Exorcist" (thought that film is still good, it's just not as scary). After my disappointment re-watching this film, I got out my copy of Quentin Tarantino's original script and pretty much all of the moments in this film that do work were straight out of Tarantino's original version; a cool opening credits sequence with crazy rear projections, Robert Downy Jr. as a sensationalistic Geraldo-like TV news reporter, some sharp dialogue from from Tom Sizemore as Seymore Skagnetti and Tommy Lee Jones as Warden Dwight McClusky. When the film drifts into Stone's seeming obsession with Native American mysticism, indulgent mix media visuals (Rob Zombie used this same style to much better effect in his films), and everyone trying to out overact the person next to them ruins what could have been a tough, nihilistic young lovers on the run "Badlands" homage. Where I will give Stone credit is the casting of Rodney Dangerfield as Lewis' dad, in a flashback sequence to Mallory Knox's abusive dysfunctional home life prior to running off with Mickey, presented as a nightmarish sitcom from hell, complete with a laugh track that punctuates societal indifference to domestic atrocities. That was not in Tarantino's script and Rodney is a positively demonic and terrifying version of his usual comic on-screen persona. I'll also give Stone credit for a dynamite soundtrack (or at least for hiring Trent Reznor to produce the soundtrack) which includes Leonard Cohen, L7, Patti Smith, Duane Eddy, NIN, Cowby Junkies, Jane's Addiction, Barry Adamson, Lard, and many more. Downey, Sizemore, and particularly Jones seem to strike the best tone of giving completely over-the-top performances, but doing so without winking at the camera, which I think Stone allowed Harrelson and Lewis to do too often throughout the film. Sure the on- screen media frenzy surrounding Mickey and Mallory and their cult of personality was fed, created, and sustained by the media is Stone's major point of the film, but it makes the characters too much to take. You can catch glimpses of a good film every now and then, buried beneath Stone's sound and fury, but in general this film is a preachy, heavy-handed mess. Do yourself a favor and read Tarantino's original script instead of watching Oliver Stone's indulgent mess.

A completely misrepresented work, cartoons effects and history confused, given that it was a Tarantino story, it would have been much better executed by him, the division into chapters would much more cohesive history, I was nauseated to watch just thinking on how it could have been. I hope very much a remake that honors the work original.