Review of In the Valley of Elah (2007) by Riley H — 13 Aug 2009
For the first hour this is better than Crash. It's as if Haggis learned how to direct in the interim. There are moments when you think something is going to happen and it doesn't, which is pretty much the opposite of his debut.
But then everything goes awry. We get a story that, though conceivable, is not presented in any kind of conceivable way. I still don't believe it. If that's the intention, I didn't get it.
Haggis doesn't have the chops to pull this kind of thing off...yet. Jones is given way too much attention and room by the cops. But Jones is great; one of the best performances of his career. So that makes it watchable.
Oh yeah, the jurisdictional wrangling is straight out of season 2 of the Wire.
This review of In the Valley of Elah (2007) was written by Riley H on 13 Aug 2009.
In the Valley of Elah has generally received positive reviews.
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