Natural Born Killers: The Tarantino Cut

A/V Quality - 1080p, so it looks great. Only noticed slight noise because of the compression. I wouldn't mind having a higher GB uncompressed copy.

Visual Editing - Great!

Audio Editing - Minus the low audio in the courtroom scene and the choice of Tarantino music, the audio was very well done.

Narrative - I loved the faster pace and the removal of Stone's influences.

Enjoyment - Overall, I really enjoyed this cut and feel the editor completed his mission. To me, this is the definitive cut of Natural Born Killers.

Thank you TheCuddlyNinja! :]X

(NOTE: The editor has fixed the editing issues I've brought up, but I haven't watched the new version. Some of my criticisms and scores may not reflect the current version.)

I am a huge Tarantino fan. I could say a lot about his movies, but we don’t need that. What I’ll say is I decided to read the script as I watched the edit, and not just a PDF I got off a popular site, the Faber & Faber book I bought (and read) years ago.


General Critiques:

A/V Quality – 10.
Great work. No complaints, I know what working with deleted scenes is like, and the lower quality fits the style.

Visual Editing – 7.
No big complaints, just nitpicks. Amazing how many shots you were able to remove without it looking like a hacked up mess (Stone already did that).

Audio Editing – 7.
A few rough volume shifts here and there for new songs, some bad audio cuts, but pretty solid overall. (See scene specific notes)

Narrative – 10.
Except for some criticisms I give below, this was incredibly well executed in terms of following the narrative Tarantino wrote. Of course nobody would ever be able to make a 1:1 faithful line-for-line re-edit of the script, and that’s not the point. This is a fabulous look at a “Could Have Been” movie.

The most fascinating thing about this version of the story is how loud & clear Tarantino’s original concept was, a psychotic satire about the media frenzy caused by a pair of spree killers. While I’m not going to bother arguing who’s vision was better, Oliver Stone or Quentin Tarantino, it’s unquestionable this is a different beast. It’s not the “Hyper-Edited Badlands on Acid” movie anymore.

Narratively speaking, the plot is paper thing (and I’m talking about the script) and there’s little character development. That is something I think Stone did well in his rewrites, but I can see where QT was trying to go with it.

Enjoyment – 8.
Overall this was a great rewatch and a decent fanedit! With some more technical polish this could be a real gem.

My main negative view… There was too much reliance on songs already used in Tarantino films. I had the same criticism for njvc’s “Pulp Empire” and I may have been in the minority for that one. But personally speaking, I would have remixed it with the intention, “If QT really did direct this, what music might have he chosen?” There are a million and one great pop/rock songs from the same genres he loves that he hasn’t used, and it could have made this even more unique if it had an “original” soundtrack. Again, this is an opinion and YMMV.

I will say though, the songs you selected were badass and the majority fit perfectly. And this makes a nice double-feature companion to “True Romance – The Tarantino Cut”.


Scene Specific Criticisms. [SPOILERS!]

The opening Wayne Gale montage and Mickey & Mallory capture sequence was nicely edited, but it should have taken place after the opening scene in the diner, where the script indicates “Credit Sequence.” Putting the credits before the diner scene is incorrect, if the intention is to follow the script.

(Nitpick.) I understand why you did it, but personally I didn’t care for the “Miramax Films Presents… A Band Apart… by Quentin Tarantino” credits. Those companies didn’t produce this film and it’s a lie to say this is “by QT”.

Script has Mallory singing “Long Time Woman” while she’s in her cell at the beginning. Stone didn’t do this, but it would have been a nice touch to put that song somewhere. Yes QT used it in Jackie Brown and you could say I’m contradicting myself, but that’s one he specifically wrote down.

Technically, the Hun Brothers interview comes before the Reinghold interview and the montage of foreigners. But, that whole portion of the script is very sloppy and it no doubt would have been re-ordered in the editing room, even if he shot everything word-for-word, and I think you placed it nicely. (But nitpick, I would have cut the fade to black, I hate how deleted scenes do that shit.)

There’s some pretty bad audio editing in the court-room deleted scene. Everything is too quiet, music should have swelled louder when he stabbed her, etc.

Oops, flash frame around 27:39, a color frame in between B&W shots. Oof, some bad audio cuts immediately after that as well.

Bullwinkle Pt 2 was put on a loop for way too long.

I’m undecided on if I like that you kept McClusky’s severed head. It’s not in the script, in fact he writes the opposite of the grisly violence that was filmed. “Freeze frame: As Mickey and Mallory start firing, a la Butch and Sundance. We hear the gunfire and screams of a small war. FADE TO BLACK. EXT. WOODS – DAY…”

But… in QT’s script McClusky disappears early on and the Deputy Warden Wurlitzer has a beefier role. McClusky in the final movie is essentially those two guys combined, so since it’s already uncontrollably different it makes sense to end with that climatic moment.

Some awkward edits in the final confrontation with Wayne.

Nice use of Alan Smithee!!

I thought this edit did a good job of achieving it's goal. One song change I would have liked to have seen would've been to play "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" when Juliette Lewis is dancing in the diner.

I hate Natural Born Killers! I hate the story, the way it's shot and the constant transitions from color to black and white and back to color again and I hate the uneven tone! thecuddlyninja has fixed most of the problams!

video/audio quality: very good, no complaints

Visual editing: only problem is too many fades to black too often! other than that, no complaints. too bad it's very hard to colourise black and white into color!

audio editing: I can't remember how good or bad the music in Natural Born Killers was, but the new music is probably much better! my only audio problem is that the stabbing sound in the courtroom scene wasn't brutal enough! I was thinking more of Pysco stabbing sound effects!

narrative: removed all the stupid stuff narrative wise, no complaints.

enjoyment: very enjoyable, only ruined by constant transitions between black and white and color!

Having not been a super fan of the original film and this being my first viewing of a Fanedit, I was at once, curious, cautious and open-minded to the experience. I like Tarantino, but I also happen to like Oliver stone. It has been a while since I last saw the OS version of the film and after watching this, I can't really imagine sitting through that one again.
At 56 minutes, it seemed closer to the running time that this type of film really actually warrants, maybe a 70-75 minutes would have been perfect.
My thoughts are that I think it would be fairer for someone who hasn't seen the original to review this properly because having a knowledge of the original, means I was able to go past any narrative short-cuts without feeling like I was missing out. I wonder what the experience would be like for the uninitiated?
I found it to be fun, inventive and with some genuinely inspired moments, although the ridiculous cartoon acting by usually great actors such as Robert Downey Jr (I'm thinking/ hoping the accent is purposely terrible) and Tommy Lee Jones, still does not show either of them in a good light and there was nothing the editor could have done about that. Interesting experience though, very good. Thanks for the hard work TheCuddlyNinja.