In "The Badge" (bad title), Thornton plays a sheriff in Louisiana's LaSalle Parish who has to solve a murder case involving sexually atypical types whom he regards with contempt. The film attempts to show Thornton's character coming to grips with his prejudices while wrestling with other personal issues such as his estranged family and job security but never manages any serious level of tension or believability and finishes anticlimactically. "The Badge" is a messy, ill focused, conglomerated mystery/drama with a solid cast, a clumsy screenplay, and a slick noirish execution full of comic book characters; a kind of classy dud. Passable stuff worth a look for Thornton fans. (C)
