PTAbro’s review published on Letterboxd:
Facts.
Holly is a naive, young girl. She has (/had) a dog. She is scared of being with Kit; she is scared of being without him. Kit is a lonely young man. He found a toaster. He is impulsive and charismatic and utterly insane. Badlands is all about the facts.
If I could ask Mr. Malick one question, it would be when facts ceased being sufficient to convey his vision. Badlands is an exceptional example of how fine a movie can be when it is straightforward, compelling, and 'easy' (which is a dirty word in some circles, apparently). This is not a dig against his emerging style as a purveyor of visualized emotion, but an appreciation of his skill at the opposite end of the spectrum; as a storyteller, a modern-day Aesop, a courtroom illustrator with the finest of brushes and a breathtaking palette.
I'm sure that underneath the facts, Malick was already bubbling with his evolutionary impetus; the voice-overs and montage-like interludes will take to the fore as soon as his next picture, Days of Heaven, but here in Badlands, the former is used to convey those blessed facts, and the latter used (albeit a bit clunkily here, but welcome nonetheless as a familiar element in this otherwise non-Malickian endeavor) simply to extend a scene and further establish the physical setting. Malick might have already had plans or aspirations to how to refine or better communicate his vision (or merely feel more comfortable doing so), but Badlands is even more impressive by not feeling restricted, or hobbled, by what could be considered an embryonic style. In other words, Malick's technical prowess in Badlands - as a debut feature - is nearly impossible to believe.
Add to this the twin talents of Sheen and Spacek (Sheen's accent and non-spoken mannerisms are damn-near hypnotizing), the wonderful score by Tipton and Taylor (particularly the unsettling, yet light and airy, Gassenhauer piece), and a finale that upends convention by nixing a Bonnie and Clyde-esque tragedy and makes the piece even more chilling in its implications of American celebrity-worship, and Badlands is already impressive on its own merits. That Malick provides a captivating story without requiring a journey down his emotional and conceptual rabbit-hole, and simply tells a tall (or, considering the real-life basis, more appropriately a small) tale, just provides the audience with facts to absorb and interpret without the need of some abstract rosetta stone, and that that lack of complexity doesn't hinder the picture proves Badlands is more than just the optimal entry-point into Malick's oeuvre, but an upper-echelon film regardless of its pedigree.
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