Welcome to another (late and long overdue) installment of Monday Movie Maniac!
Hope you’re all ready for this week’s work shenanigans, seems like 2013 is going to be a fairly interesting year for movies as far as new releases are concerned. For now, let me take you back to 1994 for a glance at a character in a gem created by Oliver Stone…
Image courtesy of FanPop
This week, we’re going to be featuring the hellacious hellion of Hollywood (according to the 90′s, anyway), the one and only, Juliette Lewis! Her role as Mallory Knox in the movie “Natural Born Killers” puts her at the top of the list for this week’s Monday Movie Maniac. If you haven’t seen the movie and can tolerate a bit of psycho with your evening movie time, then I recommend this film. Keep in mind, this isn’t a family friendly flick, so make sure the kiddos are in bed before popping this in the DVD player.
Natural Born Killers…if you’ve seen the movie, then you’re familiar with the two lead characters Mallory and Mickey Knox, as played by Juliette Lewis (Mallory Knox) and Woody Harrelson (Mickey Knox). The movie also stars Tom Sizemore, Rodney Dangerfield and last but not least, Robert Downey Jr., sans the Iron Man suit.
The pair (Mickey and Mallory) are mass murderers in love, a pair of killers who happen to take on the spotlight in the movie with their eerie sympathy for one another’s past hardships and current need to feel loved by someone. The pair does well in thriving on the attention given to their homicidal antics in the movie. The overall meaning of the movie is, ironically, to show how the media tends to give more focus toward people who commit crimes. The more violent the crime, the more media coverage. Who knew? Satire at it’s best, while not keeping to the usual innocence.
Image courtesy of FanPop
Lewis’ character Mallory Knox has a bit of a horrendous back story, the movie having portrayed the character Mallory as growing up in a household where sexual and physical abuse were a common occurrence. So, I suppose that makes her actions in the movie warranted, although very unacceptable in terms of right and wrong. Lewis does a wonderful job in portraying a character with the unrelenting primal nature of a woman who is mindlessly in lust with a man that is as mentally broken as she is, too. Mallory’s relationship with Mickey (played by Harrelson) can be described as a mixture of “You and me against the world, baby” combined with “Hey! The world screwed me up and I want attention!”
Doesn’t this remind you of another couple?…
Image courtesy of FanPop, art by Charles Holbert
Enough said. Mallory Knox may not have been as desperate as our dear Harley Quinn, but…let’s be real here. They’re both cute, are head-over-heels for the “bad boy” type and bring out a sense of sympathy from the audience.
Juliette Lewis did a wonderful job as the role of Mallory Knox, earning her the spotlight in today’s Monday Movie Maniac. Her portrayal of this character is raw, unhinged and even had me feeling a tad uncomfortable. She did crazy, and she did it well.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for next week’s Monday Movie Maniac!
———————————————————————————————–
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CarissaM.VA
Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/carissam_va
Great write-up, Carissa! I haven’t watched this movie in quite a while, and your comparison of Mickey/Mallory to Joker/Harley has me wanting to see it again and make the comparison myself. Looking forward to next week’s entry
Thanks, PapaKenn! Let me know your take on the comparison of Joker/Harley to Mickey/Mallory…that was also a huge clue for next week’s entry.
For me, NBK is a very interesting movie. It’s borderline unwatchable if you’re unprepared for its content and/or visual presentation. Mallory Knox’s character arc is also very interesting, and I’m glad you picked up on her comparison with Harley Quinn. But doesn’t that mean you should also look at Mickey Knox and the Joker? Please say yes, I love talking NBK!
Yep! That’s exactly one of the reasons why I love NBK. It is uncomfortable, even if I’ve seen it before. As far as Mickey Knox and the Joker are concerned, I’m going to have to give that a high-five and a “Hell yeah!” for good measure in agreeing with you on that.
[...] Carissa here, and I’m bringing you this week’s installment of Monday Movie Maniac. Last week, you got a taste of the character Mallory Knox, as played by Juliette Lewis in the critically- [...]