A movie that has been in and out of my consciousness for years. (Yes, I saw the theatrical release on opening night waaaay back when.) On each occassion I this film, the meaning and impressions I draw from it have shifted. On my first viewing, I watched with shock, wonder, and disturbment (yes, that is a word only because I declare it to be so). Shock at the extreme portrayal of violonce. Wonder at the unique cinematic stream of consciousness conveyed with such intensity. "Disturbment" at the total breakdown of everything sane, rational, and orderly. A journey into the mind of complete and utter chaos.

On my second viewing (in a discount theater), I laughed. It was funny. I couldn't always discern exactly why, but it was. Perhaps this is because on a repeat viewing, I knew what I was getting into, and so braced myself beforehand. Because of this, I wasn't so shocked by the visceral blast, so I was able to see through it to the layers of irony which had gone unnoticed during the first encounter.

Ever since then, each viewing via a home medium (there haven't been that many), has been a chance to reflect, absorb, ponder, and re-experience.

Many people who criticized it said that the movie actually had the opposite effect of what it was supposably intended to convey. They charge that although the Oliver Stone media relations department claimed it is a satire on the way the media glorifies violent criminals, the film itself ends up being at least as bad as the institution it supposably criticizes.

I would have to say that I don't think either side is telling the whole story. Indeed, this movie is far more than just a satire on the blood-hungry media (although it is that as well). It is a trip straight into the mind, heart, philosophy, and merciless predatory nature of the killer. No way around that. The continuously subjective filming perspective from inside the heads of Mickey and Mallory Knox is obvious evidence to that.

Why did Stone's PR machine try to cloak it in the excuses and rhetoric of "we're just satirizing the big bad American media"? My theory is that Stone & Co. knew that if they openly admitted the full extent of what this movie aims to portray, the backlash from the "let's censor Hollywood!" uptights would have been 10x what it was. So they went for a politically correct, yet plausible angle. Wisely so, I suppose, given the vast surplus of Kyle's Mom types out there.

A deliciouly intense trip into the spiraling pits of hell on earth. For the focus of this viewing, I just cranked the soundtrack (which rocks!), sat back, and soaked it in. Not a film for the timid, blood-shy, or those who don't like to experience the more sinister aspects of human reality in every color, hue, and film stock imaginable. For me, that's what a good movie is all about.