The plot behind 'The Badge' is quite original, with a bigoted small town sheriff having to deal with a case way out of his comfort zone. The trouble is despite a decent opening 30 minutes the story soon descends into a cliched thriller which completely falls apart at the end, and the cheesy final scene is like something straight out of a bad made for TV movie.
Overall this is a messy badly paced thriller made up of cliched deep-south characters, a clumsy screenplay which even a decent cast can't salvage. Even if you're a Billy Bob fan I would give this a miss.
Billy Bob Thornton and Patricia Arquette are great as the two leads; he plays the rule-bending sheriff who is waning in popularity at election time and she is the woman who turns up seeking her missing transsexual husband. It is a plot based on political cover-ups and conspiracies, together with failed aspirations of prejudiced small town Americans. A good story and excellent performances from the main characters; however it is not fast paced action so you'll be disappointed if that's what you are looking for,