An inscrutable, disaffected James Dean modeled young man (Martin Sheen) takes up with a naive fifteen year old girl (Sissy Spacek) and murders her father (Warren Oates) before taking several more lives on a killing spree across the American West. Based on the exploits of spree killer Charles Starkweather and his teenage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, Terrence Malik's Badlands is beautifully shot and disconcerting with its juxtaposition of natural imagery and ostensible innocence with the horrific deeds it depicts. A laconic Sheen and an aloof Spacek provide an excellent presence in early performances, and the film is perhaps a little too distant with not enough going on or being said.
*** 1/2 out of ****
