Review of In the Valley of Elah (2007) by Daniel K — 25 Nov 2008

Tommy Lee Jones is quite an actor and this is quite a performance. Haggis' film would not work without him, but even with him it fails to capture the feeling he must have been striving for. Make no mistake, it is a very bold film with its sight set on something very difficult to achieve.

Haggis has succeeded fairly brilliantly when working with/for Eastwood, but he doesn't have the right toolbox to turn his own words/ideas into the achievements Eastwood manages to create. The film is well cast and acted.

Theron turns in another great performance as well. Everything performance I see from her now seems to be stellar. She is going to have quite a body of work behind her when she is done. She and Jones make a great team here.

Jones does everything he can to keep it subtle and sub textual, but Haggis can't quite achieve the monumental effect he's working towards. Haggis is anything but subtle. His works tend to be overt and over stated.

Regardless of how one feels about the political messages involved, the emotional power isn't quite there, when it's terribly obvious it should be. One could say he should stick to working with Eastwood and turning out great Bond scripts, but that would be selling him short.

It is admirable that he reaches for such heights even if he does fail to reach them. Modern cinema would be a far better place if there were more directors/writers/producers attempting such bold statements.

The Iraq portrayed here is very different from the Iraq I know, but I strongly suspect Iraq in 2004 is a very different place from Iraq in 2008. However, it is not unrecognizable despite all the changes.

I suspect Eastwood would have made this a timeless picture, where as Haggis seems to have focused in on a very particular time (I don't think this picture will hold up over the long haul). Theron and Jones make it more than worthwhile though.