Although it's Malick's first film he sets the cornerstone for his future films with some absolutely gorgeous shots. Reminiscent of "Bonnie and Clyde"

The emotional shallows of this film are intriguing, but make it hard to derive much from the contrast between beautiful American landscapes and nonchalant murder. I respect the pure, steady vision of the direction, but would have been more enamored by either a grittier or a more charismatic presentation. The bland personalities of the lead characters feel authentic, as does the disaffection in their actions, but don't make for an especially thrilling film.

Kinda dull, but for the time period it's good

Practically perfect. Martin Sheen as Kit is easily one of my top few screen performances of all time, if not in a class by itself. The fact that Malick had already found his voice so distinctly without a single feature film to his credit is awe-inspiring; his instinct to eschew symbolism in favor of mere observation and 'letting it be,' and to refuse to judge his main characters, is perfectly tuned, and his visual style, while sometimes epically breathtaking, finds its voice in the details.

Badlands is expertly crafted, but besides the monotone and matter of fact voiceover of Sissy Spacek, there's no insight into the characters and little feeling expressed, which made the film extremely flat for me.

Bizarre and enjoyable. Its tone and attitude towards the violence differentiates it from pretty much all other films like it, and it's brilliantly acted. Strong debut from Malick.

It may not be as jaw-droppingly beautiful as the other Malick films to follow, but it is pretty freaking close. He gives one of the most impressive directorial debuts ever. Definitely his most concise film, but it still holds all the glory that we've come accustom to in viewing his films. Sheen is glorious and Spacek is wonderfully naive.

martin sheen is perfect, but i didn't feel like the film took full advantage of that

Serial killers this charismatic and this banal about their own doings always seem so interesting to me. Because of this, do they deserve more sympathy?

A really beautiful strange film. The pretty photography and music distance us from the characters' actions, and maybe that's Malick's point: they are strangely disconnected from the meaning of what they are doing.

Style and substance. Martin Sheen really shines here, as does Spacek. Excellent.

Good Movie

Everything A Clockwork Orange and Natural Born Killers tried to do and unquestionably surpasses them both

Badlands is a queer film at best. In the beginning its strange atmosphere seemed to emotionally disconnect me from everything happening; it felt very lifeless and sterile. Once our main characters are on the move, however, it becomes increasingly enjoyable, thankfully with the same odd score maintaining its original tone. Martin Sheen is all kinds of fantastic.

One of the best uses of voice over in films. A strange, poetic, haunting film, beautifully directed. Sheen and Spacek are very, very good here.

155

He was 25 years old. He combed his hair like James Dean. She was 15. She took music lessons and could twirl a baton. For a while they lived together in a tree house. In 1959, she watched while he killed a lot of people. With a tagline like that, this movie could have been called Badasslands.