10 Mean Films For Mean Times
7. Natural Born Killers
There aren’t enough asterisks to edit out Quentin Tarantino’s opinion of this movie, which turns his original script into an obnoxious, over-stylized would-be satire whose excesses are somehow meant to be taken as social comment. Imagine True Romance with a cranked up visual style, where the main characters become media personalities and you’ve got this misfire in a nutshell.
Banned in Ireland due to its glorification of violence, the film was left in limbo while the BBFC investigated reports that the film inspired a copycat shooting in the US. The details of that case – the victim later sued director Oliver Stone for “product liability”, with support from author John Grisham – are more interesting than anything that happens in the film.
Released to UK cinemas in February 1995, the film’s video release was then held up by the Dunblane school shootings. Despite being shown on Channel 5 in 1997, the film wasn’t available to rent until 2001.