Badlands (1973)

Ebert finds the film reserved and dispassionate in its observation of two strange, lonely characters whose empty lives lead them into senseless crime without rationalization or deeper meaning. He singles out the strong performances by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek for particular praise.

Hammond hails the film as a magnificent, still modern debut that is psychologically precise and visually splendid while exuding a timeless mythical quality. He singles out the entrancing soundtrack and non-judgmental essay on freedom and necessity.

The review highlights the film's meditation on the banality of evil through paradoxes in character, relationships, and nature. It praises the confident complexity, central performances, and status as an indisputable masterpiece compared to Bonnie and Clyde.

Terrence Malick's 1973 debut, revived at BFI Southbank, looks even more effortless and sublime 35 years on. It is brilliantly composed with a loose swing and a superbly delicate, literate voiceover that conveys the bizarre babes-in-the-wood quality of the couple's life on the run, featuring unforgettable sequences.

Terrence Malick’s re-released road movie is as magnificent as ever and rightly revered as one of the most astonishing debuts in cinema. The drama feels slight yet exquisitely shifty, with desolate vistas that ache and a cruel magic that has never quite been recaptured.

Thomson praises Badlands as one of the great American debuts, a re-released film that blends immediate horror with long-distance wistfulness and emerges as a screwball Western. He singles out the clash between the deadpan narration and killings and the ambitious, comically effective use of Orff and Satie music.

Malick’s masterful debut extracts the haunting mythology from the Starkweather-Fugate case, using Spacek’s voiceover and the landscape’s beauty to contrast innocence with sudden violence. The film displays Malick’s singular sensitivity to inner life and the magnificent outer world from the start.

The review notes the film's reminders of Bonnie and Clyde but emphasizes its greater complexity in depicting an idyllic world corrupted by violence. It singles out the superb performances by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as memorable.

Malick’s first film is a meditation on identity and notoriety through two kids playing house amid violence, distinguished by its understated narrative and Holly’s ironic, chilling voiceover. It remains timeless and distinct in his oeuvre despite its relative straightforwardness.

Canby calls the film cool, sometimes brilliant, and ferociously American in its vision of violence and death, marking an impressive directorial debut. He singles out the splendid performances by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as self-absorbed, possibly psychotic children of their time.

Collins calls Badlands a critical sensation and cornerstone of New Hollywood, a mythic boy-meets-girl story of random violence. He singles out the exquisite shooting and sparse scoring as a meditation on American culture.

The review describes the film as a uniquely American fairy tale and an impressive debut feature from Malick, told through the girl's naive narration of her journey into violence with a James Dean-like killer. It singles out the cunning and charm of Martin Sheen's lead performance as a perverse Horatio Alger figure.

Malick's debut is a lyrical, quietly disturbing take on young love and violence, still his most accessible work and a 1970s masterpiece. The voiceover and striking aesthetic beauty, from infernos to magic-hour sunsets, are singled out as key strengths that burn images into the mind.

The critic finds Badlands a fascinating, non-judgmental film with poetic beauty, highlighting the breathtaking cinematography of stark landscapes and Sissy Spacek's revelatory performance as Holly. The romance is compelling despite its doomed nature.

The critic praises Badlands as Malick's most conventional and simplest film, which succeeds at its manageable goals and remains universally loved. They single out its straightforward genre plot and voiceover narration for making it accessible yet distinctive within Malick's oeuvre.