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NATURAL BORN KILLERS - COMPARAÇÃO

Warner Home Video / 1994 / 118 and 121 Minutes / Rated R and Unrated

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that pushes the buttons of the collective psyche. These
movies spawn countless debates about the responsibilities of the media, even though such controversies seldom
amount too much more than a higher opening weekend. Natural Born Killers was one such film. Dogged by
controversy months before its theatrical release and plagued by a court case that wouldn't die long after its move
to video, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the film were, and in some ways continue to be, drowned out
by the much more vocal discussion of the film's role in perpetuating the very media violence it claims to condemn.

The film follows Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis), a 90's Bonnie and Clyde
who travel the southwest in an effort to flee the demons that pursue them, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.
Pursuing them are a host of eccentric characters, including Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore), an obsessed
detective who is himself a sociopath, and TV reporter Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr., sporting a horrendous
British accent), whose tabloid news show thrives on murder and bloodshed. The film subverts the usual dynamics
in many ways by showing the killers as human and the so-called normal characters as little more than animals.
Eschewing both traditional narrative and the usual cinematic style, director Oliver Stone rapidly cuts between,
past and present, 35mm and Super 8, jumping from one event/film stock to another with no apparent rhyme or
reason (in the commentary, Stone admits to there being no real logic behind the arrangement of media used). At
it's best, the result is a clever barrage of random images that have you experience the movie rather than view it;
at its worst, it's headache inducing.

There are certainly other things to recommend the film. Harrelson, coming off a lengthy stint on the sitcom
Cheers (and with White Men Can't Jump under his belt), turns in a gutsy performance, completely playing against
type and displaying a wider range in one movie than many actors show in a whole career. And he's in good
company, with Sizemore giving us a perfect picture of neurosis.

Stone's satire is clever, if a little uneven. When he's on, Stone manages to put together some brilliant set
pieces like the pitch black sitcom parody "I Love Mallory," a little bit of back story revealing how Mickey freed
Mallory from an abusive father (played with a certain wicked gusto by Rodney Dangerfield) and a mother in
denial. But more frequently than one would care for, Stone feels the need to spoon-feed, preaching at the viewer
rather than to the viewer, and with the subtlety of a hammer blow to the head. During these sequences the film's
reckless abandon, which manages to hold you captive most of the time, devolves into simple tedium. Much of
whether or not you like the film is going to depend entirely on your tolerance level for Stone's blatant moralizing.
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There are two big differences between the new release of Natural Born Killers from Warner (also available
as part of The Oliver Stone Collection 6-pack and 10-pack) and the previously released disc from Trimark. The
first and some would say most important, is Warner's presentation of the original R-rated theatrical cut of the film
as opposed to the unrated director's cut that appeared on the Trimark release. Some see this as a major setback
for the new disc, but I don't think it harms the film as much as others might. Remember that this is the cut that
most people saw originally anyhow. The cuts and trims that Stone was forced to make to achieve the R rating
don't change the overall story arc of Natural Born Killers, they're just there for further elaboration. They certainly
don't change the film to the extent of, say, The Abyss or Blade Runner, where new insights and even the nature of
the story and themes are changed through the inclusion of additional footage.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The second, and I think most important, difference in the new DVD is that Warner has done a brand new
anamorphic widescreen transfer for the film unlike Trimark's non-anamorphic rendition. I was never impressed
with the Trimark transfer, which was recycled from the old laserdisc years before. It was heavily over enhanced
and riddled with artifacts. The new transfer makes the old one look like videotape in comparison with a smooth,
detail image that shines. Colors are breathtaking with solid flesh tones and deep blood reds that always remain
solid. The film is infused with a variety of different photographic styles and the anamorphic DVD brings them
across much more impressively with a more seamless quality. The intentionally grainy segments are still
presented with the grain, but without the nasty looking noise that accompanied the Trimark transfer. Some minor
edge enhancement is still visible, but it is almost undetectable and certainly more transparent than it was on the
Trimark release.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The back of the case states that the soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 but since
Natural Born Killers played theatrically in both Dolby Digital and DTS, I'm not sure what this remastering is
supposed to mean. I do know that compared to the 5.1 track included on the Trimark disc, the Warner 5.1 is far
more active and impressive. Like the film, the soundtrack is erratic with heavy directional and aggressive surround
effects mixed in with much more subdued front soundstage moments. Bass from the .1 LFE is appropriate and
strong, even somewhat unnerving at times. I did catch bits of distortion in the dialog every now and again, but
generally the vocals are quite pleasing. It's almost as if the Trimark soundtrack was specifically mixed for the
director's cut while this retains the original theatrical soundtrack.
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A French 2.0 surround track along with English, Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles are included as well on
the Warner edition, while the Trimark version omits the Portuguese option.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Fear not true believers, all of the supplemental material from Trimark's previously released DVD have
again been put to use by Warner. (And the entire Trimark disc, in fact, is essentially just a port of the laserdisc
special edition released a few years back.) However, Warner has managed to change a few things and make an
addition or two while they were at it.

The first supplement is a screen-specific audio commentary with Oliver Stone. The interesting thing about
the commentary is that it appears to be the same as the one used for the Trimark disc, but there are enough new
bits to raise some questions about how it has been edited. My guess here (and this is merely a guess) is that
Warner and Stone had recorded a commentary track for a long planned and openly discussed Natural Born Killers
special edition laserdisc. Then Warner backed off on its plans to release the film unrated, and Stone subsequently
shopped the idea to Trimark. Thus, the original commentary track was included and handed over to Trimark, who
used it along with further edited together comments from possibly another commentary track. Or this could be a
track recorded by Trimark, but there are things on the Warner commentary that are new. Did ya get all that?
Whatever the case may be, it is the same track but with a few new, or never-before-used, comments sprinkled
throughout. As for the actual track itself, is is punctuated with long pauses, providing a commentary that is spotty
at best and frequently not scene specific. When Stone is talking, his comments range from overstating the
obvious to sharing personal likes ("Hear the song in the background? I really like it."). To be honest, there wasn't
much of interest here, especially given the film's potential for sparking a genuinely interesting commentary.

The eyes of Oliver Stone get crazy as part of the documentary Chaos Rising (roughly 26 minutes), a
series of interviews discussing the film's production and controversy. The cast and crew have some fascinating
stories about the production (my favorite was how Stone had three cameramen hospitalized trying to get a single
POV shot!), and the documentary leaves you wanting more, as any good documentary should!

Next we have the deleted scenes. Six sequences, each of which was cut for a variety of reasons, are
introduced by Stone and shown in full frame. Each scene is interesting to watch, though they certainly vary in the
degree of interest. The longest, and most interesting to me, is a deleted trial scene featuring Ashley Judd as a key
prosecution witness. Again, each scene holds some sort of appeal and so all are worth having on the disc. Also
included is the alternate ending. Though technically a deleted scene, it is given special treatment with its own
introduction.
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New to the Warner disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. There was a trailer advertised on the Trimark
release but it turned out to be a lame promotional trailer for the director's cut release on video. Here we are finally
presented with the theatrical trailer for the film s in anamorphic widescreen and mono. The other new addition to
this disc is a brief bit of the Charlie Rose interview with Oliver Stone. As with the Chaos Rising documentary, the
11-minute Rose interview is actually far shorter than you end up wanting it to be. Rose doesn't appear to be
someone completely in favor of the film and attempts to draw reasoning and intent from Stone on the themes of
the film. As per Stone style though, the director is creatively evasive for the most part but does make great points
about what he intended the film to be. It's also entertaining to hear a critical lambasting of the film only to find that
Stone's ex-wife is the critic at hand. Cast and crew bios close out the supplements.

As for the Director's Cut of the film not available on the Warner disc, it includes three minutes of additional
footage (mostly frames and too many to enumerate here). Finally, let me tell you one thing that's missing on both
versions: the music video for Nine Inch Nails' song "Burn." Now, many of you are wondering why that matters. I'm
a fan, and for me, the absence of the video was disappointing. (Lastly, I also wanted to point out an odd quirk on
the Trimark menu. If you watch the movie all the way to the very end (wait for the logo of the disc manufacturer),
then select play movie from the menu, the disc jumps to the logo again. In order to play the movie, you either
have to select a scene from the scene menu or stop the disc and start it over.)

Parting Thoughts

Though admittedly not to everyone's liking, Natural Born Killers has many strong positives to recommend
it as a piece of film. If you are someone who is absolutely in love with the director's cut, you'll probably find it more
difficult to embrace this new edition. But from a technical and supplementary standpoint, this new Warner release
of Natural Born Killers outshines the Trimark issue in every way.