Amazon.com essential video: Oliver Stone would like to have the last word on America's media culture of voyeurism and violence, but whatever he's trying to say in this grisly, unconventional movie comes across terribly garbled. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play traveling serial killers who become television celebrities when a Geraldo-like personality (Robert Downey Jr.) turns their madness into the biggest story in the country. Stone extensively rewrote an original script by Quentin Tarantino, and he employs a mosaic of different film stocks, video, and pop pastiches to create a sense of blurred lines between visual phenomena. (The background on Lewis's character's life as an abused child, for instance, is presented as a sitcom starring Rodney Dangerfield.) But the result of these experiments is a pompous, even amateurish effort at grasping the reins of a real-life national debate. One almost wants to tell Stone to sit down and raise his hand next time if he thinks he has something to say. The controversial director would like Natural Born Killers to be nothing less than a monumental achievement, but it's one of the emptier entries in his filmography. --Tom Keogh
In all honesty... ...this is turning into one of my favorite movies... At first, i didn't enjoy it, but then i GOT it...and am falling in love with its style and characters, even though there really is NO good guy in the entire movie. But, in my opinion, this is Woody's BEST PERFORMANCE... He, and Juliette Lewis were made for these roles... The only "downer" is for true Tarantino fans...the "story" is from the original script Natural Born Killers by Quentin Tarantino...and to ture fans of his work, you can almost tell what lines and scenes Stoone tried to keep from the script, but put his own style into... Don't get me wrong, I think this is a very important film that was easily overlooked that shows the world what TV and the Media really does for some peoples psyche...but I still want to see what Tarantino had visioned...
NBK review Movie itself: 5 stars Video Quality: 3.5 stars Audio Quality: 4 stars Extras: 3 stars
Movie: 3.5/5 Picture Quality: 3~4.25/5 Sound Quality: 4/5 Extras: 3.5/5 Version: U.S.A / Region Free VC-1 BD-50 / Advanced Profile 3 Running time: 1:58:57 (Theatrical version) Movie size: 33,51 GB Disc size: 36,41 GB Average video bit rate: 27.75 Mbps
Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1635 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 1635kbps (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps) Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps Dolby Digital Audio German 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps Dolby Digital Audio Italian 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps Dolby Digital Audio Japanese 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Subtitles: English / Danish / Dutch / Finnish / French / German / Italian / Japanese / Norwegian / Portuguese / Spanish / Swedish Number of chapters: 40
R-RATED Theatrical Cut, NOT UNRATED!!!! The listing for this product is WRONG! For some reason, this is the R-RATED theatrical cut and not the UNRATED Director's Cut that appeared on DVD and VHS so many years ago. All of the deleted scenes from the DC release are contained on this disc (only in 480p standard-def), but this IS NOT the definitive version of the film. I'll have to buy this Blu-ray again when they release a DC version. The packaging for this Blu-ray release is gorgeous. It's like a hardcover book with the disc and several pages about the stars and the process of making the movie. If you MUST watch NBK in HD right now, it'll do the trick (though much of the film was shot in 16mm and grainy video anyway)- and in a pretty package- but not without a sacrifice of 2 minutes of important scenes. BUYER BEWARE!
BLU-RAY REVIEW I don't have the greatest home theatre setup for judging a Blu-Ray professionally but I can say that in my humble opinion there was little wrong with the image or audio quality here. Colors were strong, image was sharp, alternate-format scenes (8mm, 16mm, video) all looked about as best as they should. There are plenty of entertaining supplements, including the "director's cut ending" (which is inferior) and I can say that I don't really miss the stuff Oliver Stone had to take out for this theatrical cut (4 minutes). Most of it is still in the deleted scenes.
If you're a completest then perhaps this edition isn't for you, but if you're just a fan of the film, get this Blu-Ray. About a minute of extended shots of violence does not a film make. I don't think it's really worth waiting indefinitely for the "Director's Cut".
Film: A- Video: B+ Sound: (Tough call. I don't have surround.)
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
