In the Valley of Elah

When his son disappears after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, retired Army officer Tommy Lee Jones works with reluctant detective Charlize Theron to uncover the truth.

In the Valley of Elah is a very somber film about the price of war propelled largely by a spectacular performance by Tommy Lee Jones. Larger than life, yet intensely vulnerable like some amalgam of John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, Jones’s nuanced performance is so believable, it’s as if he’s playing himself.

The script, by writer-director Paul Haggis does an excellent job of painting honest, flawed characters and the few spots it falters, such as with Charlize Theron’s character who seems a little too canned, the cast more than makes up for.

The film only has two real problems. The first is the length. It runs two hours but feels closer to three. While the trend in films seems to favor hyper-kinetic editing, Haggis may have swung too far in the opposite direction with the long lead times in most of his shots. Had the film been more visually intricate, this may not have been an issue, but as it stands, it’s a problem.

The second problem is the inexplicable choice of playing an Annie Lennox song over the film’s closing sequence. This blatantly manipulative and heavy-handed device cripples the film’s ending, and is totally unnecessary.