Alecc B. on "In The Valley Of Elah"

Next year, George W. Bush will no longer be sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office. It’s a comforting thought, but the next man, or woman, to sit there has a lot of cleaning up to do. One of the biggest shit-storms that needs to be resolved is getting our troops out of Iraq. Easier said than done, but the longer the military stays out there, the more damage will be done to them, physical and psychological.

In The Valley Of Elah is the latest film to tackle the subject of the war in Iraq. Director Paul Haggis chose this story to tell as his follow-up to his award-winning Crash. There aren’t many similarities between the two films, but one thing they do have in common is strong writing for a great cast.

PLOT

Hank Deerfield gets a call from the military, saying his son, Mike, has gone AWOL. Hank, not knowing that his son was back in the states until then, sets out to find him. Upon arriving at his son’s military base, Hank knows something is not right, and he must work his way through lies and crack-whores to find out where his son is. Okay, so maybe there aren’t any crack-whores, but there are strippers involved. I know, not the same thing. Whatever.

ACTING

Tommy Lee Jones can act circles around anyone. Sure, he basically plays himself in every movie, but the man is a class act. As Hank, Jones expresses enough of what he’s feeling without having to speak. When he does speak though, he drops gems. Susan Sarandon plays his wife and mother of Mike, Joan. Sarandon is another actress you can add to the list of greats. She’s guaranteed to make you cry a couple of times here, which is effortless for her to do, especially in Dead Man Walking. Have any of you seen that film? Man-o-man, that movie will make any guy weep. Believe that! Charlize Theron plays Det. Emily Sanders, who befriends Hank and helps him. Theron’s character deals with adversity throughout the film, from the male detectives in her department to the military police. Theron holds up well against the rest of the cast. It doesn’t hurt that she’s gorgeous, even when she’s dressed down. Jonathan Tucker, as Mike, has very little screen-time and is mostly shown through flashbacks. He’s decent in this role. Wes Chatham is very effective as one of the more haunted soldiers, Corporal Steve Penning. Jason Patric plays Lt. Kirklander like he does all of his other roles, which is very reserved. James Franco, Josh Brolin, and Frances Fisher all show up for a couple of scenes and perform their small roles well.

WRITING & DIRECTING

Paul Haggis developed the story for In The Valley Of Elah with Mark Boal. The plot is pretty simple, but enhanced by good dialogue. If I were to pitch this film, I’d say it’s Courage Under Fire meets A Few Good Men. Elah goes to some dark places, including some disorderly conduct from soldiers dealing with injured prisoners and dead bodies in Iraq. Some twisted stuff. The weakest subplot has to deal with Theron’s character and her young son, especially a scene that comes after the climax. They melted some Kraft on that scene. Pure cheese.

Haggis has been involved in many projects over the past few years. He wrote the scripts for Million Dollar Baby, Casino Royale, and The Last Kiss, to name a few. With the exception of Royale, Haggis seems to have a knack for writing drama. This is evident when it comes to his directing as well. Elah has a nice flow to it. It’s not fast-paced film, but it’s never boring. The investigation of what happened to Hank’s son keeps you interested, and Haggis has a fantastic cast that carries the movie along without any extra help from fancy camerawork. This is not to say Haggis is a lazy hack, it’s just that he knows what he’s doing.

I could’ve done without the extremely corny song they play at the end. It makes the final image a little overbearing. But, as a follow-up to Crash, In The Valley Of Elah won’t disappoint anyone looking for a good old-fashioned investigation drama.

Overall Review: *** stars

Best Line:

Jones: I’d say that’s accurate.