1. Tss5078

   10

   In The Valley of Elah is a true story, that follows the disappearance and murder of a solider, recently returning home from Iraq. Tommy Lee Jones plays that soldiers father, a retired Military Police Officer, who launches his own investigation, and he continues to be the best actor I've ever seen. Jones rightfully received an Academy Award Nomination for this role and really should have won. No matter the film, no matter if it's good or bad, Jones simply steals the show and makes it work. Charlize Theron was also terrific as the Detective who wanted to solve the case that nobody else wanted. In most things I've seen her in, I didn't like her, but here her performance actually rivals Jones's. This film is extremely well written and very methodical. If The Valley of Elah can't keep your attention and have you on the edge of seat, talking to the screen, than nothing else will. This is honestly one of the best written, acted, and important films I've seen in a very long time. This one's going on the must see list and you will defiantly not be disappointed!… Collapse

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2. ChadS.

   8

   Hank Deerfield(Tommy Lee Jones) is an analog man living in a digital world. He looks like a figure in an Edward Hopper painting as he stands at the copy machine. The truck Hank drives could've been an object parked out of frame in Hopper's signature work "Nighthawks", an oil on canvas, typical of the cinema-minded artist's obsession with people in relationship to their environment. Hank tries. He can operate a computer. But the immodesty of our times often leaves him at a loss for words(e.g. the topless waitress, a septugenarian like him, at the diner bar). Time doesn't stand still, especially at an army base, even though the protocol, the haircuts, and the congeniality of the GIs remain the sam. Looks, however, can be deceiving; as they say, you can't judge a book by its cover. Hank will come to learn that C.S. Lewis might be more knowable than his own flesh and blood. There are crashes, the same racial crashes between Whites and Hispanics like in "Crash", but it's the generational crash between the Iraqi war veterans and veterans from our fathers' wars that distinguishes "In the Valley of Elah" from this filmmaker's last hurrah. An interpretation of the vivisected body that's discovered in the field could be construed as the analogue version of the soldier's digital form being pixelated to death by the unforgiving Iraqi sun. Mike's body(and soul; because of his inhumane treatment towards the enemy) seems to be literally coming apart on his father's laptop. Hank can hardly recognize his own son. Because he's an analog man living in a digital world. Hank Deerfield is the anti-"Walker: Texas Ranger".… Expand

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3. CydneyB.

   5

   Except for Tommy Lee Jones' performance, this is a predictable piece of Hollywood schlock. Treachly music at end... Charlize Theron is just plain boring, and Susan Sarandon is wasted. What a snore.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
4. LanceD.

   2

   Intriguing yet disappointing. Haggis did not explore Tommy Jones realization that his "good boy" son had morphed into a man performing unspeakable deeds while serving in an Army which he had influenced his son to join. The ending with the flag and the school janitor made me LOL so hard. It was so indignant and ungrateful to our troops and country. I have completely lost hope for Hollywood drama movies. If they cannot realize that the problem is the PRODUCT and not the buyers for the slumping movie industry than they are truly disconnected and have a mental disease. Enough with the Anti-America, Anti-War, Anti-Republican movies. We get it, Hollywood is overflowing with liberals.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 2 users said Yes.

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