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!
