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 ****
Review of The Badge
