I love this movie so much

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

From my favorite movies..

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Sound: Just simple sound editing and sound track use here. 60/100 Technical: Nice use of cell phone video. Use of simple location sets. 70/100 Narrative: Standard crime investigation film. It moves a little slow and meticulous like a real investigation and Tommy Lee Jones' character does. Flows with logic then we get a twist at the end. 60/100 Character/Acting: Very well acted; Charlize Theron and Tommy Lee Jones draw a lot of sympathy and they both arc well; and in ways we do not anticipate. This is the strong point of the film. 90/100 Did I like it: Yes, my sympathies for the characters and the mystery solving kept my interest. 70/100 Artistic merit: There are better films that deal with the effects of war on soldiers and their families, but looking at these issues in a criminal investigation is a different approach. 70/100 Total score 70/100

This is gonna have to take up some space in a way that some sites don't approve of, but just get ready to read. A director and writer like Paul Haggis cannot be meaningfully considered in a blurb or a broadside.First of all, where do people get the stones to carp that Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah" is 'slow' or 'heavy handed' or 'plodding' (some of the comments I have heard from 'movie' lovers, and some of which have been made at this site)? Paul Haggis does not make 'high octane fueled thrill rides', he makes films."Valley..." actually moves along at scene level at a brisk cinematic pace. The reality is that if you are a shallow viewer you will miss the meaning beneath the surface of individual scenes that seem completely ordinary or mundane. That abiding attention to the mundane is no doubt where viewers get the idea that what they are watching is 'plodding'.Haggis is one of our most gifted scenarists, screenwriters, and directors just in the technical sense, let alone his undeniable powers of narrative, theme, characterization, subtle conflict, and tone. Technically, his gift for writing brief yet meaningful scenes that accumulate in meaning and theme is very much on display in "Valley..." Mundane interior shots and mundane dialogue are centered but not the point.In a modicum of shots he enters a scene, focuses on only what moves the plot and conflict forward, and almost always exits one or two beats EARLY, sometimes providing only the merest hint of the point but always amplifying that point with the very next scene--accumulation as an art form similar to the work of Wes Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums", (2001).Thus, Haggis works in scene clusters, in which meaning accumulates across sequences while brevity in any single scene drives the plot forward, sometimes mercilessly fast. The result is an uncanny ability to cut and pare down his scenario to the barest economy (the demand of all commercial first release theatrical film--in extreme shallowness we call this 'movie making', such as "Iron Man", and when done meaningfully as in "Million Dollar Baby" we call it cinema and give it an academy award. He cuts and pares down while also creating a mounting revelation of meaning, character, plot, tension, conflict, suspense, and even of theme.The "Valley..." sequence in which the father arrives at his son's military base and exchanges dialogue with on-duty personnel who knew the missing son seems throw-away, boring, but is structured eloquently to move us through a mise-en-scene that tells us crucial things about the son's character, his life, his associations, and the poverty of his (and all the other soldiers') emotional life.That poverty is immediately revealed as a clue to something being serious askew; a mystery takes initial shape here, while throw-away dialogue reveals something missing beneath the surface of the perfunctory politeness being offered by soldiers the father questions. The father sees even that sparseness to have been apparently further denuded--important things are missing and the father's theft of the phone from his son's possessions is covered up by the distraction of a boring conversation with a duty officer.The specter of a mystery, of suspense, pops a little bud out of the background here, with both an economy of words and of shots in a brief sequence.Haggis' scenarios carry an almost specter-like idea of content--the thematic ghost in the commercial cinematic machine. The opening sequence of "Casino Royal" (2006) is an example. The simple draftsmanship of this writer-director, visual and thematically, is a gift to American cinema. He doesn't write frenetic, action packed 'movies'. He writes and directs films. His most commercial works, "Crash" (2004--writer), "The Next Three Days (2010--director), and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004--writer), offer master classes in compact scene design, sequence, and accumulated meaning.His TV script work alone ("Mr. Sterling" and "Family Law") are a blueprint for some of the best written and most terse, concentrated script writing that has influenced critically acclaimed TV convention, while, hey, let's just remember, he is the first writer-director in American film academy history to write Oscar-winning Best Picture screenplays in two consecutive years.I'll stop there. I wouldn't want to take up TOO much space.

Antiwar drama, based on an actual incident, from writer-producer-director Paul Haggis, who gets a solid and moving performance from Oscar-nominated Tommy Lee Jones as a military veteran determined to find out what happened to his son, a soldier recently returned from combat in Iraq who has disappeared from the military base. Jones lends unsolicited help to the police investigation after his boy's dismembered body is found, while the military police and the city detectives squabble over whose jurisdiction the case falls under. Haggis has assembled a terrific cast for his film, including Charlize Theron as a green-but-determined detective who spearheads the investigation and Jason Patric as the lieutenant working with (and sometimes against) her. Unfortunately, Haggis leads us down so many blind alleys (gangs, drugs, strippers, racial issues), the plot threads become red herrings. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact Haggis then feels the need to apologize for the finger-pointing. It's an emotionally raw picture, extremely well-made, and yet the final confession is anti-climactic. Haggis blames the brutality of war for turning our boys into monsters, but this seems a lazy-out. Sometimes, people are just rotten for no reason. **1/2 from ****

In the Valley of Elah is a poignant film that deadpans its way to impact you. The cast list shows many people in the film, but in reality, this is a duet with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, with some cameos by Jason Patric as the military agent, and Susan Sarandon as the mother. TL Jones is ex military all the way, and he EXUDEs ex-military in his demeanor, his talk, and his habits. He was also an MP, so he knows how to go about an investigation. His youngest son Mike was in the middle east and has returned home. Suddenly they receive a call that Mike is AWOL if he does not show up by the end of the weekend.Jones drives all night to the town where Mike's base is, and starts a search. He figures Mike is letting off some steam. What happens next shakes him, and his relationship with is wife, to its core. Jones maintains his military demeanor, while inside he's being ripped apart.This is a tour de force performance from Tommy Lee Jones, for which he received a nomination for an Academy award as best actor, along with a slew of other nominations. You can tell he loves his son deeply, but that he understands the stresses of the military. His emotions show that yep, perhaps he did stuff his son did. And sadly, maybe he even went down other paths that he just won't talk about to anyone. This film is a monument to the often silent love and respect between a father and a son, no matter what happens. It was fantastic to see this played out with such depth and economy of acting. Equally excellent was Charlize Theron. For once she was not pimped out to exude her womanhood. In fact, she was made to look like a regular person, which allowed her acting skills to pour out because she wasn't trying to look cool or act cool. She was just trying to act the part. She played the police officer who has no respect from her fellow male officers who constantly taunt or joke on her. Until she shows them how smart she really is. And later shows them how far ahead of them she read tragic events that they laughed at her for. As a single mother, she's reliving almost the young Mike of TL Jones, and learning about the bond between a mother and her son, and how that too is important. The father being gone it seems.In the Valley of Elah is not quick paced. There's not a lot the happens. The story is even pretty simple. But the acting, wow, it's terrific. Susan Sarandon as the mother hits all the right notes too. I won't rate this a must-see, but it's pretty darn good if you want a film that examines the complicated combination of the military mixed with a father/son relationship that gets strained, but never broken, and eventually, albeit sadly, uplifted. Enjoy.