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Created Feb 28, 2009 08:02AM PST • Edited Feb 28, 2009 08:02AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Visually stunning, Terence Malick’s ‘Badlands’ provides a compelling odyssey of a murderer and his girlfriend – drifters in America’s South given credence and strength by Sheen and Spacek.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek are the two leads, and arguably hold the movie together. What little support there is doesn’t really warrant much attention, as the film is their story.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

   Martin Sheen shows why he was such an acclaimed actor in the dawn of New Hollywood; his drawling, carefree Kit goes from drifter to cold-blooded killer in an instant, and those who cross him soon realise he is not at all as he seems to be.

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

   Sissy Spacek plays the young, lithe Holly, innocently swept up into a life of hiding and running by the influence of Kit. Spacek portrays the character with a real sense of growth – she moves from the innocent, girl-next-door type to someone who feels they can stand up to the one they love.

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

   As above.

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

   Adjusted for scoring purposes.

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    Malick is infamous for the visual acumen he brings to every movie, and in his debut he doesn’t disappoint. What is perhaps more striking here is that the story actually grips the viewer more than in any of Malick’s other efforts – a rarity from the reclusive, opulent director. Dialogue here is minimal but effective, whilst the repetitive music will remind some of Tony Scott’s ‘True Romance’.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

    Malick provides a slow-burning but involving story concerning the two fugitives – the conflict between the two grows slowly and with tension, whilst the action is befitting of such a movie. If Malick’s other films were more like ‘Badlands’, he would perhaps be held in higher regard.

12. Play Very Good 3.5

    The dialogue is sparse, but when it needs to be, effective in its use. Martin Sheen’s drawl, foregrounded against Sissy Spacek’s impressive Southern girl narration, provides a brash yet gripping voice to Kit’s random bouts of violence.

13. Music Great 4.0

    Gassenhauer, by Carl Orff, dots the film with a sense of detachment; this impressive piece of music seems to jarr with the Southern settings and quite cleverly presents the detached nature of the two leads as they run from their actions.

14. Visuals Great 4.0

    Malick’s visual skills are perhaps his greatest asset on-screen, and in visualising the murders and the beauty of the Badlands themselves, the director presents a movie that defines a strong sense of place.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.5

    For its time, the film contains some violence that is perhaps more stunning because of its unpredictable nature – there is little sex or swearing in comparison.

17. Sex Titillating 1.8

18. Violence Savage 3.6

19. Rudeness Salty 2.1

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    Based on a real-life couple, the story is in every way a believable tale of murderers on the run.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0