As a Terrence Malick fan, I enjoyed watching this as it was his first film, and it shows a lot of ideas that will become his trademarks. One it's own, it was worth watching, but it has definitely aged.

The opening gets right to the point in Badlands as Terrence Malick keeps it short and sweet. I absolutely love the brown and white cinematography around 53:18. The camera work is excellent for the entire film. Malick had incredible vision, especially for his first film. He was in his late 20s when he made this picture. To begin your career with a period piece like this is really something. The acting of Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek is incredible. Badlands is a great film and I do recommend. 94/100

Both actors nailed the slightly unhinged Midwestern people vibes. As someone who doesn't know the true story I would say you don't need to know the story to get the jist of the movie. The story alone was a little weak on the romance side and heavy on the crime side. I do like the part where Holly subtly mentions that she wonders what her future husband will look like (not Kit) which shows a shift in her feelings about what she is doing with him. Overall probably would watch again but not groundbreaking or breathtaking whatsoever.

This movie is lacking a bit of background on the characters, making the events feel quite random. Acting was good, it just did not make much sense.

Kind of silly and illogical at times, and more knowing it is a T. Mallick film.

Providing one of the most beautiful cinematographic experiences of the 1970s, Badlands is a film that clearly established Terrence Malick as a writer/director with complete command of his craft.

Despite the story about a murdering flee, the movie is all about the two main characters and their unique way to see life. Holly is a very submissive girl that slowly learns to put things in question, and Kit is a happy trigger who barely puts any value in other human beings' life. Their lifestyle, or at least the way they wish to live free, is of course incompatible with our society, it is them against the world. These characters are already entertaining and curious by the way they are written, but they are also perfectly played by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Both actors found their way to play uncommon personalities while never making them unrealistic. The deep America surroundings are beautiful to look at, as the direction puts a lot of emphasis on very large plain, on how empty the landscape can be. The pace can be weird for some, as the first act goes very quickly and then things slow down, but nothing too bad.

An All Time Classic character study about how someone can fall in love with a sociopath. The cinematography is a marvel to behold always feeling desolate, gritty, and isolated but filled with character. The Acting is Phenomenal with Sissy & Sheen having excellent chemistry. The Pacing is perfect as it is a brisk non bloated very straight plot but filled with substance. The editing and soundtrack is very well done as well. The film explores how a sociopath can be made, the mindset of of a sociopath, and how one can be manipulated to fall in love with a twisted person. Truly a All Time Classic.

A young martin sheen stars in this slightly odd road movie with sissy spacek. A good film that Tarantino would have made in the 70s

Fascinating performances by both Spacek and Sheen. - DA

If you have to learn acting, watch out for Martin Sheen in 'Badlands'

Kit Carruthers (Martin Sheen) is a sociopath, a cold-blooded killer with no regard for human life. Holly Sargis (Sissy Spacek) is his fifteen-year-old girlfriend, a seemingly insightful but horribly naïve young girl. Together, they run from the law through the open spaces of South Dakota and Montana in Terrence Malik's Badlands, a film as bleak and sparse as the landscape the characters traverse. In Malik's first (and possibly best) film, he establishes what would become a component of his style – subdued performances complimented by beautifully framed shots. The fact that we learn little about Kit's past plays large part in what makes the film so effective – a merciless killer who looks like the boy next door and seems almost perplexed by his penchant for violence. And we never learn why.

Like many other older movies I watch, I firstly like this for what it's not - it's not special effects, c.g.i., bad sound editing or a misplaced soundtrack, and irrelevant camera shots and close-ups. Nextly, I also like it for what it is - linear and sensical. The characters own and command their scenes, probably because no one was concerned with some other social agenda. I simply found myself liking this more and more as it progressed.

The story is based on a historical murder spree. I thought it was beautifully shot and I could understand why it made Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek stars. I also thought it was dull at time. I didn't the director's softening of the deliberate cruelty of the real murderers. I thought the villain's morphing from wanted man to celebrity, even with the cops who caught him, was all to believable.

This film gave me a headache, it had good elements. However I personally didn't like it.

Most boring Starkweather yet. Watch Natural Born Killers instead.

Beautiful in both visuals and writing, BADLANDS is a near-perfect film that shows how wonderful cinema can be.

Martin Sheen carries this fairly arresting early picture from the great Terrence Malick. The characterization is pretty one-note and the ending doesn't seem to incorporate something though provoking or any kind of arcs for the people on screen, unfortunately.

This is my second dip into Terrence Malick's filmography (Days of Heaven being the first.) Badlands strikes me as the small scale version of Bonnie and Clyde. Malick captures a slice of Americana with a carefully woven portrait of two young adults on the run. Hard to believe that this was his first feature film.

An extremely laid back and grounded sensibility permeates through all of Badlands, especially given the context of the film. Enjoyable yet never extremely enticing.