Line #92 Film/NaturalBornKillers


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6	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/natural_1606341244457_949.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:300: ''The media made them superstars.'']]
8
9	->''They didn't win a Nobel Prize, throw a record fastball or travel another acceptable path to fame.''\
10	''What fugitive lovers Mickey and Mallory did was kill people. Lots of people.''\
11	''The media took care of the rest.''
12
13	Considered to be one of the most controversial films of the 1990s, ''Natural Born Killers'' is a film by Creator/OliverStone. It derives from a screenplay written by Creator/QuentinTarantino, which was itself a rewrite of his friend Creator/RogerAvary's script ''The Open Road'', elements of which also contributed to ''Film/TrueRomance''. Tarantino conceived it as a dark exploitation thriller with elements of satire, but Stone extensively rewrote it to the point where Tarantino [[DisownedAdaptation disowns it as part of his work]]. Stone heavily focused on the satirical elements, particularly [[IfItBleedsItLeads the incestuous relationship between crime, the media, and pop culture]], and how the latter two glorify the former and turn mass murderers into cult heroes.
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15	The film tells the tale of Mickey (Creator/WoodyHarrelson) and Mallory Knox (Creator/JulietteLewis), an OutlawCouple who captivate the world with a cross-country murder spree, killing 52 people with the special gimmick of always [[SpareAMessenger leaving one survivor to tell the tale]]. Despite being sadistic and largely unrepentant murderers, the media, led by Australian tabloid journalist Wayne Gale (Creator/RobertDowneyJr), turns them into pop culture icons. While the equally corrupt detective who arrested them (Creator/TomSizemore) and the warden (Creator/TommyLeeJones) at the prison holding the two plot to have Mickey and Mallory killed while transporting them to a mental institution for psychiatric testing, Mickey uses a post-UsefulNotes/SuperBowl special interview to stage a riot in the prison and escapes with his bride to freedom, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake as the entire prison goes up in flames and the staff is savagely slaughtered by the prisoners.
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17	A psychedelic and surrealistic film that has been called "The Most Expensive Student Film Ever Made", it sadly fell victim to a MisaimedFandom as some fans actually ended up liking Mickey and Mallory and their ultra-violent killing spree, which was [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing exactly what Stone was condemning]]. Similarly, quite a few critics failed to see the condemnation of media hype, instead fixating on the perceived glorification of violence. Among those critics was Tarantino himself, whose original script placed more emphasis on the "evil" of the Knoxes and made them less sympathetic. He soundly condemned the "sitcom" sequences in the film, apparently for that reason.
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19	----
20	!!This film provides examples of:
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22	* AccompliceByInaction: [[spoiler:Mickey and Mallory murder Mrs. Wilson because she did nothing to stop Ed from abusing her, making her just as bad.]]
23	* AdaptationalVillainy:
24	** Jack Scagnetti was written by Quentin as more of a tired, worn-out KnightInSourArmor, living with a reputation based on past glory, who ''eventually'' [[KnightTemplar snaps and attacks Mallory in the climax]]--as opposed to the corrupt, murderous DirtyCop obsessed with Mallory that Stone's film made him.
25	** In addition, Mallory's parents were not originally written as sexually abusive. In Tarantino's original script, the given reason for Mickey killing Mallory's parents was that they wouldn't give their blessing to the couple's marriage. The DisproportionateRetribution is discussed by Scagnetti and company as being the couples' EstablishingCharacterMoment.
26	** Wayne Gayle does ''not'' kill anyone himself in Tarantino's script.
27	* AmbiguouslyHuman: Owen Taft - [[spoiler: he appears out of nowhere at the beginning and end of the film, and in the original cut, just before he kills the Knoxes he says he "came from the fire."]]
28	* AppealToInherentNature: "Look, bitch, you knew I was a snake."
29	* AssholeVictim:
30	** Mallory's father was a sexually abusive jackass, and Jack Scagnetti strangled a prostitute just to kill someone. You won't feel too bad when they get their comeuppance.
31	** [[spoiler: Wayne Gale exploits Mickey and Mallory's crime spree for ratings, and during the prison riot starts killing people himself. Mickey and Mallory later kill him, partially out of disgust and contempt for his AttentionWhore behavior.]]
32	** The redneck gang.
33	** [[spoiler: While Mickey and Mallory get away with their crimes in the theatrical cut, in the film's alternate ending, they die at the hands of Owen Traft (and thereby qualify as these) for, effectively, letting their fame go to their heads and rejecting someone who admires them.]]
34	* AxCrazy: Mickey and Mallory Knox, but Jack Scagnetti and Wayne Gale also get in on the act.
35	* BaldOfEvil: Mickey shaves his head towards the end of the movie. This is somewhat subverted though, as soon after this [[spoiler:he and Mallory decide to stop killing and have a family.]]
36	* BerserkButton: Given her history of [[spoiler: sexual abuse at the hands of her own father]], it's small wonder that being hit at is this for Mallory.
37	* BigBrotherInstinct: In a cut flashback scene, Tim Mulberry finds the Knoxes holding knives and standing over his bound and gagged younger sister, and proceeds to kick Mickey four times in the head Creator/BruceLee style. [[NoSale Mickey shrugs it off, kills Tim]] and makes his sister the witness to that massacre.
38	* BloodierAndGorier: The Unrated version is bloodier, gorier, and way more graphically violent than the theatrical release.
39	* BottomlessMagazines: Nobody really seems to be particularly concerned with bullet counts here. A particularly obvious example happens during the prison riot, when Wayne fires a pistol with the slide locked open.
40	* {{Bowdlerize}}: Stone was forced to cut three minutes of graphic violence at the behest of the MPAA and the studio in order to achieve an R-rating. All of the footage was restored a few years later for a Director's Cut VHS and Laserdisc. In his introduction to the Director's Cut, Stone says he felt that some of these edits done for the theatrical version made the film ''more disturbing'', as some of the censored footage was played in such an over-the-top manner that its intention as a satire became more pronounced.
41	* ChewingTheScenery:
42	** [=McCluskey=], with his [[EvilLaugh "horrific fucking laugh"]].
43	*** Who can forget "Jesus Harold Christ on a fucking rubber crutch!"
44	** Wayne Gale, of course. "For the first time of my life, '''I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!'''"
45	* ClusterFBomb: Lots of characters can be this.
46	* CultSoundtrack: The [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]]-compiled soundtrack, which includes songs by Music/LeonardCohen, Music/PattiSmith, Music/BobDylan, Dr. Dre and Tha Dogg Pound.
47	* DerangedAnimation: During some of the more psychedelic scenes, we're treated to random frames of Mickey running down a hallway and a perverse WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat attacking Mallory and getting shot.
48	* DinerBrawl: Or a Diner Massacre anyway. In the first scene of the movie, Mickey and Mallory start a brawl at a diner and kill almost everyone there.
49	* DonutMessWithACop: One of the police officers Mickey and Mallory are shown killing is exiting a donut shop.
50	* DrivenToSuicide: Mickey's father shot himself right in front of his son. [[StartOfDarkness It's implied that this is one of the reasons Mickey became a killer in the present day]].
51	* FaceDeathWithDignity. Lampshaded and zig-zagged with [[spoiler:Wayne's death. At first, as soon as Wayne realizes that Mickey and Mallory are going to kill him, he pathetically starts running off in plain view of them. Then Mickey cocks his gun and says "Wayne...have some dignity." Wayne then gives up, walks back to them and calmly accepts his fate.]]
52	* FameThroughInfamy: Mickey and Mallory always leave a SoleSurvivor at each of their killing sprees in order to tell the story of what happened and build their legend. Wayne Gale and the rest of the tabloid press happily oblige.
53	* FanDisservice:
54	** Mallory's armpits.
55	** The numerous [[FootFocus shots of Mallory's bare feet.]] Undoubtedly one of the parts left unchanged from Quentin's original script.
56	* FreezeFrameBonus: The credits of the fake sitcom "I Love Mallory" are full of [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110632/faq#.2.1.12 punny names and jokes]] such as "Best Boy: C. Noevil".
57	* FreudianExcuse:
58	** Mickey and Mallory both had abusive fathers, with Mallory's dad molesting her and Mickey's dad killing himself in front of his son.
59	** Scagnetti had a similar excuse, as his mother was killed by a spree killer (Charles Whitman).
60	* {{Gorn}}: The film is about the violent killing spree of Mickey and Mallory so naturally a ton of blood is shed by the couple especially in the unrated cut which has outright decapitation and dismemberment.
61	* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: The scene showing Mallory's family life is done in the style of a 50's sitcom, complete with canned laughter, exaggerated set design, and sitcom-styled joke script... which informs the viewer that Mallory's father has been raping her for longer than her brother has been alive (because the only reason Kevin was born is because Dad didn't realize he was in his own bedroom and not Mallory's) and her mother doesn't object because he beats her.
62	* HollywoodHealing:
63	** For someone who has just been bitten by a rattlesnake, Mickey didn't have a problem engaging in a shootout.
64	** Also, Mallory gets sprayed in the eyes with mace by Scagnetti and is able to see perfectly not two minutes later.
65	* IfItBleedsItLeads: A ruthless satire of this trope, exemplified by Wayne Gale, a reporter so desperate for ratings that he'll [[ExaggeratedTrope kill people for it]].
66	* ImmoralJournalist: Wayne Gale, for reasons given above.
67	* KarmaHoudini:
68	** [[spoiler:The two run away and spend their days in an RV, raising their kids and being normal. Oliver Stone was actually aiming for this trope - they're heroic, in a twisted sort of way, because they killed the mass media figure that propagated their doings, the corrupt cop and the warden.]]
69	** Not so, however, [[spoiler:in the deleted scene. See KarmicDeath below.]]
70	* KarmicDeath:
71	** [[spoiler:In a deleted scene, instead of [[KarmaHoudini running away and raising a family]], Mickey and Mallory are killed by the same serial killer that helped them escape the prison, because Stone said that the best comeuppance for the two was to be killed by "their own ilk".]]
72	** [[spoiler:When Wayne Gale, the bastard who propagated Mickey and Mallory's killings, starts killing people himself for the sake of ratings, Mickey and Mallory give him a ''vicious'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech before killing him as well.]]
73	* KillerCop: Jack Scagnetti strangles a prostitute to death for the fun of it. [[HeroAntagonist He's also the detective assigned to capture Mickey and Mallory]].
74	* MadnessSharedByTwo: Mallory meets Mickey, and falls head over heels in love with him. So much that she eventually joins him in a cross-country murder spree. Granted, with the abuse she endured from her father, her trip into insanity wasn't that far.
75	* MindScrew: All the strange imagery inserted almost subliminally into the film, such as a beheaded, bloody man sitting on a couch which also begins moving near the end of the film (the fake sitcom at the beginning is also credited to "Headless Mann Ltd."; see FreezeFrameBonus above).
76	* MoodDissonance: All the frakkin' time.
77	* NoFourthWall: Played with during Wayne Gale's televised interview with Mickey at the prison (which is aired as the "halftime show" during the Super Bowl). At one point the screen unexpectedly fades out...and then fades back in to show a Super Bowl commercial for Coca-Cola. But we don't see the frame of any television screen around the image, in effect fusing us with the in-universe audience watching the interview. [[YouBastard Pretty sobering if you think about it.]]
78	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Mickey is on the very justified receiving end of this by police after the shootout that leads to his and Mallory's arrest.
79	* OffWithHisHead: This happens to [[spoiler:[=McCluskey=]]] during the prison riot in the Director's Cut.
80	* ParentalIncest: Mallory's dad sexually abused her for years.
81	* PetTheDog: Mickey and Mallory avoid killing Mallory's brother after they had previously killed her mom and dad.
82	* ThePlan: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that Mickey and Mallory didn't actually plan the riot. They instead attribute their miraculous escape to "fate."
83	* PoliceBrutality: The police beat the crap out of Mickey and Mallory due to their status as cop killers. [[spoiler:Later on, Jack Scagnetti and [=McCluskey=] plot to have Mickey and Mallory killed while being transported to a mental institution.]]
84	* PrisonRiot: After Mickey's interview with Wayne Gale, the whole prison goes apeshit and a massive riot breaks out. [[spoiler: Mickey and Mallory exploit this in order to escape.]]
85	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: [=McClusky=], the Warden of the prison that Mickey and Mallory are held at, is no pencil pusher, personally breaking up a fight between two of the inmates without asking the guards for help. Lampshaded by Scagnetti, who says that he should appear on ''Series/AmericanGladiators''.
86	* RevisedEnding: Creator/OliverStone's original ending had Mickey and Mallory being murdered by the prisoner who helps them escape from prison.
87	* RippedFromTheHeadlines:
88	** Mickey and Mallory are based loosely on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Starkweather Charles Starkweather]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caril_Ann_Fugate Caril Fugate]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bernardo Paul Bernardo]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Homolka Karla Homolka]], and the infamous crime duo Bonnie and Clyde.
89	** Real life serial killers John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson are all name-dropped. Furthermore, Mickey's interview with Wayne Gale is inspired by Geraldo Rivera's interview of Charles Manson.
90	** Jack Scagnetti despises criminals (in particular serial killers and mass murderers like Mickey and Mallory) because [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman Charles Whitman]] killed his mother.
91	** At the end of the movie television footage from real crimes and trials are shown, most notably the burning of the Branch Davidian complex at Waco, the trial of the Menendez brothers, the OJ trial, and others.
92	%%* ScaryShinyGlasses: Mickey's glasses.
93	* ScreechingStop: In the opening sequence, one bullet about to hit a waitress suddenly screeches to a halt so the camera can show her expression before her brains are splattered.
94	* ShoutOut:
95	** At one point Mickey is watching television and scenes from ''Film/MidnightExpress'' and ''Film/Scarface1983'' are prominently displayed.
96	** Mallory's brother Kevin wears make-up reminiscent of the band ''Music/{{Kiss}}'' in one scene and make-up resembling [[Film/AClockworkOrange Alex's]] choice of fashion in another.
97	* SlasherSmile: Mallory often sports this; Mickey also qualifies. [[spoiler: And even Wayne Gale and Jack Scagnetti.]]
98	* SpareAMessenger: Mickey and Mallory always leave one survivor at the scenes of their killing sprees... Until the very end, when they shoot the journalist that was with them because he unfortunately had a camera which documented everything, serving as a means of telling their story.
99	* StockDesertInterstate: Mickey and Mallory commit some of their crimes in desert gas stations and drive along Route 66.
100	* TheStoolPigeon: During the riot, one of the prisoners being chased by other prisoners has a sign on his back that says "SNITCH BITCH."
101	* StrawmanNewsMedia: A satire of this trope and IfItBleedsItLeads, as the amount of attention the news gives to Mickey and Mallory's killing spree turns them into celebrities.
102	* SoundtrackDissonance: Lots of it, especially the ''I Love Mallory'' sequence which has cheery sitcom music amidst the domestic abuse and sexual harassment rampant in Mallory's family.
103	* SubvertedSitcom: Mallory's childhood trauma is depicted through the 50's sitcom ''I Love Mallory'', which presents her father's physical and sexual abuse as well as her mother's neglect as the bleakest of ComedicSociopathy.
104	* AThreesomeIsHot: Mickey proposes to Mallory to have sex with a female hostage on their wedding anniversary. Mallory is enraged by the suggestion and leaves, prompting Mickey to rape the hostage.
105	* TitleDrop: During the interview, Mickey tells Wayne Gale that his true calling in life is that he's a "natural born killer".
106	* TornApartByTheMob: The prisoners kill the warden and parade his head around on a pike.
107	* VillainousCrush: Jack Scagnetti has a rather creepy attraction towards Mallory.
108	* VillainProtagonist: The film follows a couple that murders multiple people across the country and becomes famous because of the media's fascination with their killing spree. Granted some of their victims did deserve it, but that doesn't justify their homicidal tendencies nor the fact that they killed some innocent people.
109	* WardensAreEvil: [=McCluskey=] looks down on his prisoners and arranges to have Mickey and Mallory to be killed instead of transferred into a mental institution.
110	* YandereCouple: A big part of what has come to make Mickey and Mallory so appealing to the media and the public is their psychotic devotion to one another.
111	* YouAreWhatYouHate: Jack Scagnetti hates violent criminals, but as his murder of a prostitute shows, he is one himself.

Context Film / NaturalBornKillers