moonspinner55 Sheriff with dirty hands in a Louisiana parish, up for re-election and losing to an officer he himself hired, ties in the murder of a transgendered female with the all-powerful local judge and officials in high government positions. Paltry murder investigation without a hint of mystery, but plenty of sordid goings-on and continual foul language. Billy Bob Thornton, once an actor and filmmaker of some merit, simply goes through the motions here, talking in a low guttural tone. As the judge, William Devane (walking slightly stooped and with a cane) plays Southern like a Bostonian on vacation. The little bursts of artistic 'style' (speeding up or slowing down the footage randomly) are the earmarks of a filmmaker who doesn't know what he's doing behind the camera. Writer-director Robby Henson seems to know very little about the manner of small Southern towns; either he has no rhythm or his timing is off. Henson's narrative skills are also puny (Thornton keeps running into characters he's apparently related to, their backgrounds clumsily sorted out later in the exposition-heavy dialogue). It's a mess, with plenty of offensive talk that serves no particular purpose except to show off the ignorance of hicks. NO STARS from ****

dracher Anyone who contributes to the blab that Mr Thornton's characterisation of Darl was too close to his equally excellent characterisation of Hank in Monster Ball is not really contributing, or thinking very deeply. I have said as much before and I will say again here; Mr Thornton is the very best character actor in the US today and one of the best in the world.It is no surprise to find a great actor tackling scripts that are well out of the main stream, this shows a thinking caring actor who is prepared to take risks and give more credibility to the work than to the star spin offs.This movie is not a great one, but it is a very worthwhile experience that is, at least, thought provoking and contains some very fine acting from most of it's cast. The only real problem was the writer/director combination. This is not to say that the writing or the direction was bad, on the contrary, the direction particularly was very sound and the writing was fine though a little too "formular" in its shape. It's nearly always a mistake to direct ones own work, like reading ones own poetry, it becomes very hard to let a line go in an instant, when one is aware of how long it took to birth it. The Badge is fine and has some real strengths, its weakness lies in the denouement where there is the sense of a rather obvious ball being suddenly rushed to the goal post before time runs out for the some what staged final scene.This work is worth the effort on many fronts, B.B.Thornton is excellent and that woman! what a sterling performance she gives in a very difficult role and against all kinds of odds. If you have not seen this movie and are thinking about it, then do it and do it now!

Bob-45 A young, petite female, obviously terrified runs through the Louisiana Bayou as though she were being pursued by an unseen assailant. An eighteen wheeler sails down the dark road. Suddenly, the young female races across the road in front of the truck. The driver skids to avoid hitting her and truck jackknifes and turns over in a ravine. Sheriff Billy Bob Thornton, bleary-eyed from a night of boozing, arrives on the scene. He and his deputy find the body of the young female laying nearby in the ravine. She's dead, but not from the truck. She has a 22 slug in her.To reveal more would ruin a compelling, well acted story of intrigue, sexual ambiguity and political cover-up. However, the only way to fairly review 'The Badge' (terrible title) is to point out some of its flaws and that requires spoilers.WARNING: SPOILERSThe medical examiner discovers that, in regards to the female victim, 'the lady is no lady'. He's a borderline transgender, that is, his breasts are feminine but he still male sex organs. Here in lies the beginnings of the movie's deepest flaw, because this shemale is legally married to Patricia Arquette. Since, at least at the time of the release of 'The Badge', same sex marriage was illegal in Louisiana, Arquette MUST be a FEMALE. Billy Bob would KNOW that, but still anguishes over his attraction to Arquette, not sure she's a woman. Shemale or not, Billy Bob's attraction to Patricia Arquette is pretty understandable, since Patricia, like her sister Roseanna, has those world class 'knockout body' genes. Most heterosexual males would be turned on by since they're looking at the 'appearance package' and not 'checking out the interior.' If Arquette's shemale husband wanted to 'go all the way' with the sex change, what's he doing with Arquette?END OF SPOILERSPerhaps the worse aspect of 'The Badge' is it's overly optimistic ending. Most of us would like troubles to be wrapped up in such neat little packages, but they virtually never are.However, 'The Badge' can be highly praised for one of its 'Playboy philosophy' truths. Organized religion to the contrary, sex is about a whole hell of a lot more than procreation. Perhaps the BEST attribute of sex is that is the most dramatic method to display intimacy and affection for another person. If this were not true, all those 'righteous, religious' married couples who cannot conceive but continue to have sex would be committing sin. Perhaps just as importantly, if sex can thus be disconnected from procreation, does it really matter what kind of sex it is? Isn't it more important that the two people care about each other and are not just using each others bodies? 'The Badge' boasts fine performances by Thornton, Arquette and Thomas Hayden Church as Billy Bob's brother. Despite it's flaws, 'The Badge' is good for a '6'. See it, whether you are open minded or not. It might just help you become so.

mahajanssen They should've tried to let the public view this one in the theatres but I guess it wouldn't have made much success considering Monster's Ball totally overshadowed it. There are a lot of similarities between these 2 movies, not just the fact that BBob Thornton is in both, although he was definitely much better in the former. He pulls in a fine one in this movie, as usual but I wouldn't say it's his best role yet. I don't see Patricia Arquette too often so I don't really know how good an actress she is; in this movie, she's passable. William Devane usually plays the villains but this time, he plays a crooked judge but he doesn't really quite have that evil persona that he usually has. I kind of miss that. The other supporting cast members were rather good especially the real murderer. If you're perceptive enough, you'll probably know it's him somewhere along the movie but if not, just watch to the end. The movie might test your patience and seem like it would end in predictability but just sit it out. It's not a great movie but it's a good one.