The Badge (2002)

Admirable film.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The Badge is a bit of a mixed bag. It's quite interesting as a ground-level look at the culture of corruption in pre-Katrina Louisiana and there's some human realism in its story of a simple man dealing with his complicated life. But the mystery that runs through this film is really put together out of spit and bailing wire and the story as a whole starts out reasonably smart, then gets dumber and dumber and dumber as it goes along until hitting an ending that's like something a 4th grader would come up with.Darl Hardwick (Billy Bob Thornton) is the good ole' boy sheriff of LeSalle Parish in rural Louisiana. He's got an alcoholic burnout for a father (Tom Bower), an ex-wife (Sela Ward) who's the county District Attorney and a daughter that dresses like a goth stripper. Darl likes to drink and then sleep it off in his truck. He's also more of a peace officer than an agent of law enforcement, meaning he sees the job of sheriff as being more about things like chasing off the kids who are loitering in front of the local grocery store and not about investigating crimes. As sheriff, Darl is also a cog in the parish's political machine. He's answerable to The Judge (William Devane), the richest and most powerful man in the local Democratic Party, but Darl is free to indulge in whatever little graft he can.Darl's life in LeSalle Parish is disturbed when he and his deputies discover a dead woman in a ditch. They're disturbed even more when the woman turns out to be a transgendered man. Darl isn't all that interested in finding out who killed what he considers a "freak", even after the man's wife, Scarlett (Patricia Arquette), shows up demanding justice. When The Judge makes it clear that he wants the whole thing hushed up because it might affect his plans to open a new casino, Darl is ready to let the whole matter drop. But then he finds out the Democratic Party is kicking him off the ticket and running his black deputy for Sheriff. That makes Darl a little more interested in what happened to his transgendered murder victim. Then Darl gets framed for statutory rape by the local powers-that-be, and that makes him very interested in finding the killer.Teaming up with Scarlett and getting an assist from his estranged brother (Thomas Haden Church), Darl uncovers a sordid tale of political intrigue that reaches all the way up to the governor himself and the even more seedy reason for the murder of Scarlett's husband. By this point in the film, things begin to get very stupid, very quickly, so I'll stop right here.I enjoyed the way The Badge depicted the commonplace, unquestioned venality and crookedness of life in LeSalle Parish. Louisiana has been renowned for its relaxed attitude toward ethics, good government and the law for long time and this movie shows you what that means at the local level, with public officials who don't think twice about enriching themselves and always make sure to spread a little around to keep everybody else happy. LeSalle Parish is kind of like a bayou North Korea; a closed society that runs things the way they've always been run and doesn't cotton to outsiders.Darl Hardwick is a part of that world and it's a part of him. He's not exactly happy, but he's comfortable and he doesn't think more than that is possible. Billy Bob Thornton does a good job portraying Darl with honesty. He's not a good person or a bad person. He's somebody who does moderately good things and moderately bad things without knowing enough or caring to distinguish between the two. Darl is the sort of man you condemn when looking at him from the outside, without ever being able to understand him.Unfortunately, as the movie rolls on it casts Darl as more and more of a generic noir hero. That robs the character of his uniqueness and Thornton appears to become bored with the role and just goes through the motions. None of the other characters are given enough to do to make any impression on the audience, one way or the other.And the mystery of the transgendered murder victim is…well, pathetic is the best word to describe it. It's the classic case of having every clue point in one direction and then throwing in a twist that completely changes things. The problem is that the twist involves people simply telling Darl what all the answers are while he stands there with the proverbial thumb up his butt. And those answers are things that neither Darl nor the audience could have figured out before hand because they're pulled in out of left field with nothing shown in the movie to support them. And the one question that isn't specifically cleared up for Darl is one the audience has figured out before the film is halfway over.The Badge does have a smattering of female nudity and Patricia Arquette in a thong, which added to its other virtues should have made this a decent movie. But its flaws are so noticeable, that it's impossible to know how anyone will respond to this film. I like and I can imagine someone else enjoying it even more. However, I can also imagine someone thinking The Badge is garbage and being justified in thinking so. So if you're thinking about renting this DVD, flip a coin. You might get lucky…or you might not.

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.

I'm a big fan of Billy Bob. I usually like Patricia Arquette too. They do a decent acting job in this flick. The bad guys are pretty bad. The first two thirds are suspenseful and interesting. The premise is original. You really identify with Billy Bob. But at about the beginning of the last third it becomes a mess really rapidly. The script tries to resolve all the issues in about a minute. It's very confusing. Some of the ending is just a cop out. In conclusion, see it if you like Billy Bob. Considering it was "made for TV," it was better than you would expect. I don't recall their either of them has done TV before.

Badge seemed a fine movie to me.(8.5) Maybe I'm just a sucker for Billie Bob. The story is complicated but plausable and well acted. I'm not sure who was what but I'd watch it again to better understand what happend. Try it unless the basic theme turns you off!!!