Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Natural Born Killers Blu-ray Movie Review

Natural Born Double-Dip

Reviewed by Michael Reuben December 7, 2014

Our coverage of Warner Home Video's Diamond Luxe editions continues with Natural Born Killers (or "NBK"). For an introduction to the Diamond Luxe series, please see the review of the Gremlins Diamond Luxe edition.

The NBK Diamond Luxe edition has only one new feature. Its appeal for first-time buyers is the combination in a single package of the two editions of Oliver Stone's trippy and divisive satire about media and mass murder. The theatrical cut of NBK, which was heavily trimmed to obtain an R rating, was released on Blu-ray in 2008 and reviewed here. The unrated director's cut, which Stone considers to be the definitive version, was released on Blu-ray the following year, and reviewed here.

I am a long-time fan of NBK, and I reviewed the director's cut Blu-ray for another site. As much as I would enjoy revisiting the film, the purpose of these Diamond Luxe reviews is to describe what is new. Besides, NBK is and always has been a polarizing film. The reaction was foreshadowed at the preview screening described by editor Hank Corwin in the new featurette, where half the audience thought the film was the best thing they'd ever seen, while the other half thought it was the worst. Indeed, the same radical split can be seen in the two reviews published at Blu-ray.com, leading to wildly divergent scores—a subject to which I will return below.

Both discs have been re-authored to accommodate the new featurette discussed under "Special Features and Extras". Also, the theatrical cut now contains the additional extras included with the director's cut. The transfers and video mastering are unchanged, but the lossless encoding for the main soundtrack has been changed from Dolby TrueHD to DTS-HD Master Audio.

For those unfamiliar with NBK, the difference between the theatrical and the director's cuts is a matter of over a hundred small deletions, often just a few frames, as Stone repeatedly trimmed violent passages in an attempt to satisfy the ratings board. The basic story and style are unaffected. For two different reactions to the film, compare the feature write-up of the theatrical cut by former reviewer Greg Maltz with that of the director's cut by current reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman.

Allow me to offer a brief expression of yet a third reaction. It has become a cliche to criticize Stone for "glorifying" the very violence he wanted to satirize in NBK. I can remember when the same was being said of Stanley Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange over twenty years earlier, even though Kubrick had clearly anticipated that reaction and answered it in the film itself. Little Alex (who is a far more charismatic hero than NBK's Mickey or Mallory) sits in prison, a convicted murderer, reading his Bible and imagining the Passion of the Christ, as a horribly suffering Jesus carries his cross while being repeatedly and mercilessly whipped. But then Kubrick pans over and shows us how, in Little Alex's version, he's the Roman soldier wielding the whip. The point, of course, is that violent impulses will seize on whatever material is at hand. Stone's choice to criticize media exploitation of violence through exaggeration and fantasy doesn't make him part of the problem; it makes him a satirist in the most classic sense. Take away NBK, and the problem still exists. Criticize NBK for violence, and you're just shooting the messenger.

I would love to explore how the film's story and images probe deeper than even a critique of media, but this isn't the time or place. Suffice it to say that I am assigning my own score to the film, having revisited it periodically over the last twenty years, each time with a renewed appreciation for its insights.

Natural Born Killers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As noted in both reviews, and discussed in detail in the new featurette, Stone and cinematographer Robert Richardson used every then-available medium of photography for Natural Born Killers, and the editorial team freely blended them together. (Stone calls this technique "vertical editing" in the commentary.) The result was often strikingly rough and distorted even in the theater, and both Blu-ray editions effectively capture this effect. Greg Maltz's review of the theatrical cut conceded that the Blu- ray accurately reproduces the image, but then gave the Blu-ray a video score of 2.5, because he didn't like the image being reproduced. Accordingly, for the Diamond Luxe score, I am using Jeff Kauffman's video score for the director's cut of 4.0, which, in my judgment, is a far more accurate assessment of the technical quality of both discs.

Natural Born Killers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Here again, one must deal with a disparity in technical evaluations by different reviewers. Greg Maltz gave the theatrical cut's audio a 3.0, finding weakness in the reproduction of the dialogue. Jeff Kauffman gave the director's cut's a 4.5, finding the dialogue "crisp and clear". Both reviewers noted the immersive quality of both tracks (which is hard to miss).

As someone who has owned every version of this film since laserdisc, I'm not surprised that the director's cut scores higher for audio, because it received a complete remix for home video. Still, the theatrical sound mix was no slouch, which is why I am giving the Diamond Luxe a combined score of 4.0. (I am not making any allowance for the change from True HD to DTS-HD Master Audio, since both formats are lossless.)

Natural Born Killers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The director's cut carries over all the supplements contained on the theatrical cut and adds more. The Diamond Luxe edition of the director's cut adds yet another:

• Natural Born Killers: Method in the Madness (1080p; 1.78:1; 15:47): Director Oliver Stone and editor Hank Corwin discuss the themes and techniques of the film. Also interviewed is technical advisor (and frequent Stone collaborator) Dale Dye, who has a small part in the film as a cop.

For discussion of the previous supplements, see the previous reviews here and here. All extras are available on both discs. Whatever one may think of the film, the package of extras, originally assembled for the laserdisc box set, is one of the most impressive I've ever seen and easily rates a 4.5, especially with this new addition.

Natural Born Killers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

NBK is not a film to blind buy. Anyone who owns either version of the film already knows what they think of it and whether they want to experience more of it. If you've seen it but don't own either version, then the Diamond Luxe edition is well worth considering. The only thing you're missing is the DigiBook released with the 2008 theatrical cut and the insert that came with the 2009 director's cut. In their place, you're getting some interesting new interviews, plus the Diamond Luxe packaging, for whatever that may be worth to you and, if you only have the theatrical cut, the excellent "Chaos Rising" documentary that was omitted from that initial release.