Oliver Stone pours scorn on Breaking Bad finale

Oliver Stone gestures to photographers during a photocall for the 61st San Sebastian Film Festival. Photo / AP

The Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has attacked Breaking Bad for its violence and suggested that were it shown in the cinema, it would be "laughed off the screen".

The finale of AMC's Emmy-winning Breaking Bad aired to record ratings and waves of critical acclaim, but Vince Gilligan's show wasn't to Stone's tastes.

The director of Platoon (the film that bagged Stone the Academy Award for Best Director in 1987), Wall Street and Natural Born Killers told a press conference for his new documentary series The Untold History of the United States that he had tuned into the last episode of Breaking Bad to see what all the fuss was about.

"I happen to not watch the series very much, but I happened to tune in and I saw the most ridiculous 15 minutes of a movie - it would be laughed off the screen," Stone said.

He didn't believe the actions of Bryan Cranston's character Walter White were realistic.

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in a scene from the Breaking Bad finale.

"[Beware: Spoilers] Nobody could park his car right then and there and could have a machine gun that could go off perfectly and kill all of the bad guys! It would be a joke," he said.

"It's only in the movies that you find this kind of fantasy violence. And that's infected the American culture; you young people believe all of this s***!

"Batman and Superman, you've lost your minds, and you don't even know it! At least respect violence. I'm not saying don't show violence, but show it with authenticity."

However, Stone's own Natural Born Killers, which arrived in cinemas in 1994, was controversial on its release. It was banned in Ireland and has since been accused of inspiring copycat crimes.

- Independent