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In The Valley Of Elah [2008] | | |
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Notch up another great role for Tommy Lee Jones here, as his starring performance in the lead of In The Valley Of Elah is a further acting performance of real merit. And this from the man who has already recently added the equally excellent No Country For Old Men to his CV. In The Valley Of Elah, however, is a very different beast. It's the new film from writer/director Paul Haggis, he who previously brought us Oscar-winner Crash, and Jones stars as Hank Deerfield, a man who decides to take matters into his own hands when he finds out that his son has disappeared. However, what complicates matters is that Deerfield's son is a soldier on leave, and the military are proving to be little help in getting to the bottom of the mystery. Yet there's far more to In The Valley Of Elah than that, even though its narrative is interesting and surprising. No, there are real layers of drama here, and none more obvious than those surrounding Jones' character (the lead actor, incidentally, snagged a richly-deserved Oscar nomination for his work here). He's an understated, yet brilliant, creation, and one quite wonderfully brought to life. In conjunction with Susan Sarandon as his wife, and Charlize Theron as the detective he enlists the help of, In The Valley Of Elah emerges as one of the most unfairly overlooked films of recent times, and one that's ripe for discovery on DVD. A superb piece of work. --Jon Foster
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| Customer Reviews:
 Tense and gripping, with a real sense of doom February 8, 2008
Dr. George L. Sik (Epsom, Surrey)
17 out of 21 found this review helpful
This is not a war film. It is a murder mystery thriller, part police procedural, part dogged individual working it out for himself. Nevertheless, events in Iraq loom darkly in the background, glimpsed on grainy, corrupted little clips on a mobile phone.
This is a towering performance by Tommy Lee Jones as a gnarled but idealistic ex-soldier, full of tiny glimpses of emotion under a surface of deternined stoicism. Susan Sarandon is equally compelling as his wife. In fact all the performances in this film are thoroughly believable, making it all the more chilling.
To give too much of the plot away would be wrong, but Jones' character gets a call to say that his son, recently returned to America after a tour of Iraq, has gone missing. Believing this to be out of character, he drives across the States to his base in order to investigate. What he finds isn't pleasant.
Gripping right up until the final pan up a flagpole (you're dying to see what's flying there...for reasons which will become clear), this is a detective story with a difference and one of the best films in recent years.
 Tommy Lee Jones shines February 25, 2008
B.
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
In The Valley Of Elah tells the story of a father (Tommy Lee Jones) investigating the death of his son, who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. But it's not about the war- more so the inhumanity of war (if that makes sense).
Tommy Lee Jones with his basset-hound-gone-lame face and saddened, resigned voice is an absolute marvel. And while Susan Sarandon played a much smaller part, she lit the film while she was onscreen. That said, wow, Wes Chatham's small but pivotal role as Corporal Steve Penning is the performance upon which this film turns.
That said, there are still plenty of signature Haggis flaws. A preachy, lecturing tone, emotional manipulation, clubbing you over the head with morality & lame symbolism. But... credit where it's due... it IS good. And, without giving too much away, had Haggis chosen to close the film at the end of the final interrogation scene, it would've been great.
This is one to see.
Death, Duty, Dishonor February 24, 2008
prisrob (New EnglandUSA)
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
" Underneath its deceptively quiet surface, 'The Valley of Elah' is a raw, angry, earnest attempt to grasp the moral consequences of the war in Iraq, and to stare without blinking into the chasm that divides those who are fighting it from their families, their fellow citizens and one another." A.O.Scott
Tommy Lee Jones, as Hank Deerfield, plays the role of his lifetime. He is gruff, polished, a former MP in the Army, and his love for duty, honor and his country and an upright sense of right and wrong is a sign of his exrtreme faith. During the course of the film, one can see his face sag and his wrinkles deepen and his torment is written on his face for all to see. There is no make-up that can etch that misery, it came from within and that, my friend, is a sign of an accomplished thespian. Hank has been told that his son, Mike, an Army Specialist, returned from Iraq only two days is AWOL. No one knows where he is or what happened to him. After a few days, Hank gets into his truck, drives to the Army barracks in the south where his son was stationed and begins an investigation himself.
He runs into Emily Sanders, a local detective played by Charlize Theron, amd both aof them are trying to figure out who could have done such a terrible thing to his boy. Charlize Theron is superb in this role. She underplays the role, is ruthless with her superiors in pushing an investigation, and time and time again she is given new insights into the investigation by Hank. He has experience and knows his job.
When the charred pieces of his son's body are found by a desert road near the base, Hank puts his battle face on. The only clues he has are some JPEGs his son e-mailed to him. We see in the film, Hank awakening night after night from the memory of a late-night phone call from Mike in the war zone, and we see scrambled video recovered from Mike's cellphone. These unfocused streams are a simile of what is wrong in this war and what we are missing in the nightly news. What is really happening in Iraq?
The underlying theme of this movie is the war in Iraq. There is no questioning of why are we there, should we be there, no, the message is the terrible impact this war has had on our soldiers and on us and more of what is yet to come.
Hank asks us "What is what we're doing in Iraq doing to us?" The title of the film is derived from a Biblical reference, "The Valley of Elah is best known as the scene of the Biblical battle between David and Goliath (Elah means terebinth, a tree commonly found in this area). The brook of Elah, which lies in the heart of the valley, is a seasonal creek that runs dry in the summer months. Most probably the brook from which David chose five smooth stones in preparation for battle, it is the ideal place to reminisce about what is arguably the most famous story from the Bible. The Elah Valley is fifteen miles from Bethlehem." Bible.com
"The David and Goliah reference is in Haggis' metaphorical scheme, cast as the giant caught off guard. That's a profoundly unsettling idea, but In the Valley of Elah also uses the American flag to bring you to tears. It's the first Hollywood Iraq movie to remind me of a Vietnam film like Coming Home, and it does more than disturb. It scalds, moves, and heals."
Owen Gleiberman
This film has left a scar on my soul. I will remember Tommy Lee Jones's performance as a reference of what America is feeling about the loss of our soldiers in Iraq and what we have asked of them. What have we done?
Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-24-08
 Average Film. Was Expecting Much More. May 19, 2008
Katrina-UK (Stockport, Cheshire, United Kingdom)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Firstly with a name like 'In The Valley Of Elah' I was expecting this film to be set in Iraq, infact the whole film takes place in the US, with occasional flashback images from his son's mobile phone from his time in Iraq.
This film is very much a detective type film, based on true life events. Tommy Lee Jones' character's son goes missing on duty, and is found dead in the US. Because the lad's father (Tommy Lee Jones) isn't getting the necessary help from the relevant agencies at first, he takes it upon himself to find out what really happened.
I found it extremely slow, which I guess was delibrate because the information was slow to come in and to process, but it didn't make for great viewing. Overall the film definitely had a message there which I would give it credit for, but I would say the production of the film was quite average, and easily forgettable.
Mature American film May 31, 2008
Jones the Film (Wales)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This film tackles head on blind patriotism, shattered dreams and the brutalizing of young men by fighting in a war, that in the opinion of many, should never have taken place.
Clearly the director is one of those who question the Iraq debacle and it's consequence back home in the USA. No doubt he will be derided by many right-wing Americans for having the audacity to create a film that questions the morality of America's involvement in that war.
The plot is well described by others. Tommy Lee Jones gives the performance of a lifetime and Charlize Theron shows that she is one of America's finest actresses. The film is a tad ponderous, but that is often what you get when trying to portray genuine heartache.
This is not a heart warming movie experience (don't watch it if you have toothache), but nevertheless it is a compelling story.
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