Violence
Unarguably, the main theme of the movie is violence; after all, it is about very little else. The heroes of the film are murderers, yet they are presented in such a sympathetic way that we find it hard to root against them; this also ties in with the theme of media involvement in the presentation and interpretation of criminal cases.
Everything about the lives of Mallory and Mickey Knox has been violent; both come form abusive homes. Mallory's father sexually abuses both her and her younger brother and so Mickey murders her parents to free both Wilson children from their abusers. From then on, a murder spree begins - Mickey even tells Wayne Gale that he believes himself to be a natural born killer.
The movie is also interesting in that even the characters who are seen to be the right side of the law - traditionally, the "goodies" - are also violent and psychopathic. For example, Detective Scagnetti is a psychopath who has killed prostitutes by strangling them, and Warden McClusky has no qualms about convincing Scagnetti to use the riot as an excuse to kill Mickey and Mallory and cover up their deaths. Even Gale becomes violent at the end of the film as he starts to align himself more and more with Mickey and Mallory.
Media Involvement in Crime Solving
Another theme of the movie is the way in which the media is instrumental in presenting a view of a crime that it wants the viewing audience to have, rather than reporting the crime as it actually is. This is one of the reasons why we still root for Mickey and Mallory throughout the film despite the fact that they are murdering people and have no remorse for it. There are no appealing characters in the film and so Gale's presentation of the Knox's almost as the victims, because they are being hunted down by law enforcement, is actually pivotal in how the public see the killers.
Live action real time news footage also makes the viewer feel more involved and increases our adrenalin in watching the broadcast. It is difficult to watch but even harder to turn away. We feel as though we are chasing the killers instead of watching someone else do so.
