Badlands

Rating:
Summary: Dying of Thirst
Review: "Badlands" is easier to respect than to like or enjoy. As a debut film, it's certainly remarkable, the more so since virtually every aspect of director Terrence Malick's mature style--the lush photography, the intercut images of nature around the central story, the use of voice-over to fill in gaps of motivation in bland, affectless characters--is present from the beginning. It's a rare American film that is so rigorously of a piece, and rarer still for a contemporary filmmaker to trust his audience to respond to his vision for its own sake.

That said, "Badlands" is not terribly memorable. I bought it after being stunned by "The Thin Red Line" and feeling that it might be worth a second viewing. (I first saw it in college in the 1970s.) I was struck by how little of it I remembered. Usually films this distinctive leave at least a trace with me--the odd bit of dialogue or behavior here, the haunting, inexplicably moving image there. Nothing about "Badlands" had stuck with me beyond the barest outlines of the story. Indeed, the familiarity of Malick's style works against the film as much as for it. After "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line," I couldn't help feeling that the director's artful touches were a touch tired and repetitive. Only Sissy Spacek's performance as the nearly comatose 15 year old Holly stays with you. Spacek was 23 when "Badlands" was made, but she's utterly convincing as a baton twirling, teenage cipher. Martin Sheen is competent as Kit, but like most of Sheen's performances, there seems to be something basic lacking.

Like the film itself, Sheen's Kit is all of a piece, you can't really criticize his performance, but he never engages the imagination, he's never believeable as someone who could indulge in this level of violence. The rest of the actors might as well be drugged. There's no tension or fear in any of their reactions; in fact, they barely react at all.

Nothing spills over. Everything is smooth, clean and refined, but the cumulative effect of all this polish is as dry and bare as the "Badlands" themselves. While that may be intentional, it doesn't make for very spirited viewing. You're likely to feel as indifferent to "Badlands" as the characters are to life. Elegant understatement is certainly nothing to dismiss, especially in American films, but when the precision and artistry are dedicated to demonstrating life's emptiness, it's perverse. I wanted to ask the Texas-born Malick, "If life on the Plains makes you this numb, where did you ever get the motivation to become a filmmaker?"

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: 'Badlands' is an interesting picture that has similarities with a number of other flicks (both before and after) such as 'Bonnie & Clyde', 'Taxi Driver' and 'Natural Born Killers'. Like Jodie Foster in Scorcese's 'Taxi Driver', 'Badlands' has Sissy Spacek as a child thrown into the realities of adulthood and human depravity before her time. Malick constantly juxtaposes images of childhood and innocence alongside the world of murder and violence with which Spacek finds herself suddenly involved. Sheen is the anti-hero along the lines of De Niro's Travis Bickle (was that before or after? Possibly after), a gun-wielding youth who finds himself hailed as something of a hero when the police finally catch up with him. So, we find the director raising questions about the glorification of violence and the twisted values of popular culture. Left me with the same bitter taste in my mouth that I had after watching 'Taxi Driver'.

Rating:
Summary: MALICK KNOWS
Review: Malick knows how to make a great movie. One step, a wonderful script with an interesting, likable, or hateable (likable) character. His script is fantastic and this leads to a smart, almost surreal look into the lives of two young lovers, ten years separating them on the run. Second step, present a fantastic and beautiful visual world--Malick is the best at. BADLANDS, is a psychological journey into the mind of an unknown sociopath played perfectly by Martin Sheen--man could he act. Malick of course, in all of his movies never makes judgements against Kit but he does introduce voice over or dialogue where Kit makes a few judgements of himself. I think one of the best moments of the whole movie is at the end when Kit looks over at Holly lovingly and says, "I'm sorry about your dad." This is where it all began and has ended with the same sentiment. What a gift of storytelling from one of the greatest directors of all time.

BADLANDS, similar to Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD deals with the bizarre concept of the celebrity which is maybe a reason why Malick is so recluse. Here's to Terrence Malick, a scholar, a storyteller, and a visionary.

Rating:
Summary: A shocking, exceptional piece of film
Review: Badlands is a classic. A true classic. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek give the best performances of their career. The Story, about a young rebellious psychopath who grabs nervous teen in to a spree of murder and mayhem. I first saw this movie when I was 10, and it shocked me in a way none of the other movies I've seen do. Badlands also includes a passionate love story. The scene when Sheen and Spacek dance in the moonlight is a classic. The music (espeecially the credit music) is wonderful too! Badlands is awesome, but be advised that this movie doesn't deserve its PG rating. Who cares? Badlands is on my top ten list.

Rating:
Summary: A dire film with a saving grace
Review: Terence Malick is a director that I think is terribly overrated, but his films all have saving graces that prevent them from dropping below 3 stars. I reviewed The Thin Red Line (and got a lot of stick for it) and said that the plot was almost non-existent, the characterisation inadequate, and it lacked any important thematic argument despite appearing on the surface to be philosophical, but it was saved by its visuals; Badlands is much the same, other than that scant visuals are saved by the acting of Martin Sheen.

Whilst the incessant focusing on leafs and various animals and then focus-pulling to other leafs and other animals saved TRL, it is annoying in Badlands, and the lack of insight into what is going on inside the characters' heads leads to the same lack of emotional sentiment towards them as his other films. As such, Malick's films seem rather empty, regardless of how many times you watch them. What is, as I said, the saving grace of Badlands is Martin Sheen. I never respected his acting talents until I saw this film. Quite simply, before he has spoken a word you know he is trying to be James Dean, and from every stance, every look, every smile, every utterance, comes James Dean to such an extent that Sheen must have watched Dean's three films a thousand times over. It is an absolutely incredible imitation, flawless in every way, and yet never really commented upon, so that when, at the end of the movie, someone mentions that he looks like James Dean, you feel the same rush of satisfaction as he does. However, Malick is using James Dean as a means of justifying a negative attitude towards the glory of destructive youth, when perhaps using Jeffrey Dahmer would have been more appropriate (being obsessed with James Dean hardly justifies killing people left, right and centre). James Dean captured people's hearts with his films; his death brought about interest in him, but it was his films that people loved, and Sheen's character, and Malick for that matter, seem to have totally missed this point. Thus once again, the message Malick is trying to put out is confused by his own lack of understanding of precisely what it is he is trying to say.

I recommend any James Dean fan to watch this film and see Dean's ghost come to life in Martin Sheen. Beyond that, I don't really recommend this film. It's as simple as that.

Rating:
Summary: Great Acting Involved but the film moves along too slow
Review: Martin Sheen in one of his most profound roles & Sissy Spacek play Kit & Holly two young lovers who lead a pusuit with the cops during a wild killing spree througout the midwest. Holly who is only fiftteen years old is consumed with fasination with her older boyfriend that she doesn`t realize he`s an unstable homicidel manic until halfway through the film. Even though the film is filled with teriffic acting from it`s stars and has amazing scenery of La Junta Valley in Colarado the film moves too slow and the viewer is caught up in the prolonging melodrama and by the time the film has reached its inevitable conclusion the viewer is already asleep. This film still remains a classic showing of the American Dream gone bad and where young innocence is shatterd & destroyed by the viloent circumstances of human nature.

Rating:
Summary: It's One Of The Greatest Cult Movies Ever Made.
Review: Somehow word got around at work that I was mesmerized by this movie, and how I'd watch it over and over (I finally broke the habit).

They knew it was true because I started talking differently, saying things like: "Ya know, when we get out of this, I'm gonna catch you a big trout," or "We're still friends now, right?" or "We'll get out of here, as soon as I straighten my hat."

Eventually the toughest guy on my work site wanted to know what the heck was going on, and asked to borrow my copy of Badlands over one particular weekend. At the time he insisted in loaning me Ernest Goes To Camp, as he wanted me to see his brand of humor.

When Monday came around he returned Badlands. As he did so, I noticed he seemed a bit shaken, and he was much nicer to me in the future. It was such a good turn around in his behavior that I never really clarified that I admired this film for so many reasons that I interpret it as a rare artistic accomplishment - but it certainly wasn't whatever he saw in it.

Badlands offers some of the best deadpan or black humor ever filmed, and the witchy music used to highlight a burning house and then the wildness of nature is just as unforgettable. Seeing this made me research it's creator, Terrence Malick.

He is a strange and intense artist who completes very few films, spending years on finding just the right details, and some reviewers even suspect that there are subliminal messages hidden in Badlands.

When you get the chance, look for the scene where Martin Sheen asks Sissy Spacek if people call her Red. Although they are walking at the time, the word "Red" is said each time the couple is passing something on the wall that's red.

Also, look for the scene near the end where Sheen's car is tearing through a field to avoid the sheriff and deputy; because the car will cut through a barbed wire fence and you'll hear a distinct "Ping." It has an inhancing effect on the action, and is one more reason to believe that old saying about how "god is in the details."

If your're looking for something else afterward, make sure you also see Sheen in The Execution of Private Slovik because - just as he does in Badlands - he will say "Gee, I wish I had me one of those." He'll have that same expression on his face too!

Rating:
Summary: Our national obsession with celebrity is a theme here
Review: ...Martin Sheen's character totally exploits his James Dean persona and completely relishes his notoriety and celebrity. The movie is really about a nobody who becomes a somebody by virtue of a heinous crime. Terrence Malick examines the cult of celebrity that continues to plague our culture today. Based on a true story, by the way. Carol Anne Fugate, the real life Sissy Spacek character, was one of the youngest people ever to be sentenced (at 15) to life in prison. Martine Sheen's real life counterpart, Charles Starkweather, was executed.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Martin Sheen Gem
Review: Badlands, a poweful, occasionally slow-paced, sometimes confusing, five star gem of cinema, this more-or-less proves that Martin's talent is only carbon copied by his son Charlie. Rated PG, but with some very impacting violence (seeing a dog get shot is just terrible, but I'm not a vegetarian)(!) Spacek plays Martin's somewhat naive (only considerably) and repelling lover who is his partner in...killing. The director's debut, probably his biggest accomplishment...I have seen a few spin-offs and carbon copies, but this simply cannot be remade. Especially, there would not be the phenomenal talent this film required involved. Loosely based on a 1950's killing spree, but it seems better if you think of it as fictional. I have the video version by Warner from the early 1980's...it's not even listed on Amazon, but it's way out of print. Try to hunt that down if you must have the novelty release, or just buy the versions avalible on amazon.com if you just have to see this, which you do! This was also avalible on Beta, for vintage video collectors like myself.

Rating:
Summary: Being Terry Malick
Review: As a Movie: "Badlands" is durn-near-perfect. It contains first-rate acting, direction, and plot. The plot is based loosely on the Starkweather murders of the 50's, with Martin Sheen as a sociopathic kid with James-Deanian charisma, and Sissy Spacek as his jailbait muse. Sheen seduces the bored, well-to-do pubescent, kills her father, and takes her (willingly) on the lam. The plot is well-suited to the 70's style of filmmaking: string a bunch of vignettes together and hope your actors inhabit the roles consistently enough to make the movie cohere. Sheen is manic, feeding off of his love for Spacek, while Spacek seems to be following along as if she has nothing better to do. Both actors are shockingly blase about the increasing number of murders "necessary" to keep themselves out of handcuffs.

Malick's direction is deliciously slow. Long, languorous takes with few edits. Lots of artistic cutaways to rustling leaves (my favorite: a cut to a trapped chicken for no apparent reason), or the looong prairie. This makes you experience how the characters must feel -- that they're alone in a world living at their own pace.

As a DVD: I wasn't paying much attention to grain, jumps, or other such videophilia. What I *can* say is that it's a pretty nice transfer according to my eye. It's widescreen, so you can appreciate Malick's framing in full splendor. Extras are slim to none, but I think this is one of those films where extra information is at best unnecessary, and at worst damaging to the feel of the film.

Because of the nonlinear plot and first-rate acting, I suspect this movie would stand up to many repeated viewings. I'd say it's worth buying.