Review: Badlands

Director Terrence Malick paints a pretty picture by taking his time to develop each shot, conversation, and character. You put them all together and you have Badlands, a beautiful motion picture of American sensationalism and ironic heroism created by a mass media whirlwind.


The setting is a Midwestern town, where Martin Sheen plays a malcontent 20-something garbage man named Kit who stumbles upon a teenage dreamer in Sissy Spacek starlet of Holly. The conversation starts innocent enough, but soon the young lovers turn into naïve dreamers caught up in a killing spree only a true story could produce.

Yes, the movie is based on a true story of the 1958 killings that left 11 people dead and the nation in an odd tension built between fear of the vigilante killers and the media darlings they had become.

Malick plays with this tension in the simple editing of the film. Long, sanguine shots show the gritty, dirty reality of the American skyline. These are intertwined with the matter-of-fact naivety of the young Holly’s innocent fairy-tale narration throughout the film. The stark contrast toys with your emotions as you watch the horrors of a torrent passion play unfold. And you see why the American public can become enamored with the characters, like old-school gunslingers evading modern-day peacekeepers.

The observation and patience that Malick displays in Badlands is the key to the film. The film is truly transcendental in that the film allows the viewer to live in the world of the characters on screen. It is an oddly enjoyable experience as we are allowed to ride along with the killers in a journey that cannot end well.