Since winning an Oscar for his 1996 screenplay to his movie “Sling Blade”, actor Billy Bob Thornton has since become one of the most sought-out actors to grace the silver screen. From blockbusters like “Armageddon” to offbeat films like “A Simple Plan”, “Pushing Tin”, and more recently, “Monster’s Ball” and the Coen Brothers’ “The Man Who Wasn’t There”, Thornton has become one of the most beloved actors in the past five years. One of his most recent obscure projects that he took was a story about a sheriff who battles political corruption while investigating the murder of a transsexual prostitute in 2002’s “The Badge”.

“The Badge” is a crime drama about a divorced sheriff who investigates a murder of a transsexual prostitute who has some strange connection to the upcoming governor elections in Louisiana. Along the way, he finds himself at odds with a friend of the prostitute, his ex-wife, and authorities as he loses his badge and tries to do the right thing and uncover the truth. Written and directed by Robby Henson, “The Badge” is a good crime film despite a slow pacing and unoriginal storylines. Still, with a cast led by Thornton that includes Patricia Arquette, William Devane, Sela Ward, Tom Bower, Hill Harper, Julie Hagerty, Thomas Haden Church, and Jena Malone, it’s still a good crime film.

The film begins when a prostitute named Mona (Cindy Roubal) is running on the highway causing a truck to swerve and lose control. The local sheriff Darl Hardwick (Billy Bob Thornton) is called to investigate. The truck carried a load of tennis shoes that Hardwick gave away to the local townspeople till he discovered the body of Mona. He takes a picture asking all the townspeople about the body including church leader Sister Felicia (Julie Hagerty) and his deputy C.B. (Ray McKinnon). While asking several locals, he meets up with his estranged Goth-wearing daughter Ashley (Jena Malone) who keeps hassling the town with her local Goth group. Darl and Ashley barely have a relationship till C.B. calls him about the body where it was revealed Mona was a transsexual as his ex-wife district attorney Carla (Sela Ward) calls in and wants higher authorities to handle the case rather than Darl.

C.B. then meets up with the local judge (William Devane), who’s up on a campaign trail for governor as he decides to let Darl handle the case while trying to make things low as possible so it wouldn’t ruin his chances. The judge talks to Darl about the case as Darl meets up with a New Orleans woman named Scarlett (Patricia Arquette) who is revealed to the wife of Mona. He talks to her but is interrupted when his father Bull (Tom Bower) is causing trouble with the locals who is angry over losing his own badge in the force. Darl handles things but is wondering if there’s something his dad knows that he doesn’t know. He meets up with Scarlett again, who helps him on the case including the phone booth where Scarlett got called at a nearby a gas station owned by Ornell (John McConnell). Darl goes to a party for the governor where Carla is dating the current governor Joe Breraton (Michael Arata)

Darl causes troubles by bringing in a drunken date while being at odds with the judge, the governor, and his ex-wife over the investigation. Trouble arises as Darl uncovers a link between the murder and the election as he calls for help from Carla, who refuses to help him and he begins to uncover the link between Mona’s death and the upcoming elections that includes the idea of legalizing a new casino, which Sister Felicia has been protesting. While he investigates, he finds himself in trouble and is forced in a plea bargain to serve probation and stay in his Parish while giving up his badge. He talks to his dad about what happened as he learned that all of this is a government conspiracy.

Darl risks his own probation to go to New Orleans to find Scarlett where he meets up with her friend David (Thomas Haden Church) and a strange man named Gizmo (Hill Harper). He finds Scarlett at a strip club, where she’s a stripper, as she helps him investigate despite their sexual tension as they learn about the connection between the elections and why the Judge was trying to clean things up for his own campaign.

What makes “The Badge” frustrating is Robby Henson’s approach to try to make a crime drama fresh but in the process, finds itself messy in one too many subplots involved. The revealed murderer isn’t just a disappointment but the story as a whole is a mess since there’s no real background to the murder or the corruption other than the fact that these candidates wanted power. Henson’s direction is mediocre at best despite the fact he can shoot some excellent dramatic scenes that get overshadowed by its plot. The problem with the film is a lack of a narrative structure, which makes the whole film uninteresting due to its slow pacing.

On the performance front, Billy Bob Thornton is excellent as Darl as he brings out a man who is trying to do the right thing while trying to fix whatever mess in his life. Patricia Arquette is brilliant as well, since she not only plays an excellent stripper, but someone smart and demanding and she brings in some great chemistry with Thornton. William Devane is fun and sly as the villainous judge although at first, he doesn’t seem bad towards the middle of the film. As for the rest of the cast, well despite their excellent performances, it’s overall a total waste. Sela Ward is only in a few scenes in the film, often arguing with Thornton while Jena Malone is excellent as a Goth teen though her screen time throughout the film is a disappointing ten minutes. Thomas Haden Church, Hill Harper, Tom Bower, and Julie Hagerty are all underused in their roles and are just wasted throughout the entire film.

“The Badge” in the end, is a disappointing crime drama despite a great but underused cast. It’s no wonder the film ended up being released on Starz but that doesn’t mean it’s an overall bad film, it just doesn’t live up to its promise. Fans of Thornton will enjoy it for his performance while Patricia Arquette remains an underrated actress as a whole despite great roles in “True Romance”, “Lost Highway”, “Beyond Ragoon”, and “Human Nature”. Fans of crime dramas will find “The Badge” interesting on some parts but will know it just didn’t live up to its expectations in the end.

Related Reviews:

Life as a House (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_115870568068

Human Nature (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_108056317572

Billy Bob Thornton Reviews:

Homegrown (1998):

http://www.epinions.com/content_113556950660

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112639446660



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age