Man: raises hands while at gunpoint
Kit: “Nah, skip that... I will keep my eye on you though.”
Terrence Malick’s first feature, Badlands, was just added to Amazon Instant and I was excited to finally give it a watch. I absolutely fell in love and am now upset that I slept on it for so long. This film is a huge inspiration to so many of my favorites and I never even realized it. Martin Sheen is just incredible here. He has to be one of the most charming and trigger-happy characters that I’ve ever seen on screen and I loved every second of it. This was only my first time watching the film but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes down as my favorite performance of his. Sissy Spacek is also fantastic and works with Sheen to make their relationship so fascinating to watch. I could see some of my favorite films in Badlands as I watched it. I couldn’t help but notice threads of Godard’s 1960 classic Breathless in the plot and the way these two characters act together. I instantly recognized the beautiful theme from knowing Hans Zimmer’s adaptation of it in Tony Scott’s 1995 film True Romance, which I now realize is basically just these two characters in a Tarantino movie. The unconventional romance Kip and Holly share is beautiful and the cinematography maintains this loveliness throughout, even through all the bloodshed. This is probably the best Terrence Malick film I’ve seen yet and it instantly became a favorite of mine. I highly encourage those who haven’t seen it yet to seek it out. To those who have seen it, what do you think?