--- title: "Badlands: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/badlands/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/badlands" critics_score: 86 critics_reviews: 15 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Badlands (1973): what the critics said Critics' score 86 from 15 reviews: 15 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The consensus is strongly positive, with all 15 reviews praising Terrence Malick’s debut and particular agreement on Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek’s performances. Critics repeatedly single out the landscape photography, Spacek’s naive, deadpan narration and the music, noting how their beauty and apparent innocence make the violence more disturbing. Most describe the film’s restraint as a strength: it observes its characters without supplying easy explanations or telling the audience how to judge them. The differences concern emphasis more than approval, with responses ranging from measured admiration to considerable enthusiasm. The Times finds the drama slight, though it praises the film’s shifting moods and desolate vistas; Paste stresses the straightforward genre plot and manageable ambitions rather than the complexity admired elsewhere. Across the reviews, the central distinction is between those who see a psychologically precise portrait of lonely people and those who emphasise an American myth about freedom, notoriety and random violence. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 15 October 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. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/badlands-1973) ## Time Out — Wally Hammond Rating 5/5. 26 August 2008. 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. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/badlands) ## Empire — Rob Fraser Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 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. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/badlands-review/) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 August 2008. 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. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/29/drama3) ## The Times — James Christopher Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 August 2008. 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. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/article/badlands-753nxsf95v5) ## Sight and Sound — David Thomson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 September 2008. 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. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49475) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 3 April 2013. 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. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/badlands-1798176323) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. 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. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/badlands-is-like-complex-bonnie-and-clyde-7409259.html) ## Slant Magazine — Tina Hassannia Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 19 March 2013. 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. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/badlands-bd/) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 October 1973. Festival review. 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. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/15/archives/malicks-impressive-badlands-screened-at-festival.html) ## Radio Times — Andrew Collins Rating 7.7/10. 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. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-bqw9es/badlands/) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1972. 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. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1972/film/reviews/badlands-1200423077/) ## Digital Spy — Simon Reynolds Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 February 2013. 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. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/re-viewed/a460345/re-viewed-terrence-malicks-breathtaking-directorial-debut-badlands/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 28 August 2008. 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. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/badlands-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## Paste Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 2011. 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. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/terrence-malick/focus-on-terrence-malick-badlands) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/badlands.md