All of us seek a measure of balance and justice in this world. Whether it's at the job, in a relationship, or dealing with some type of outside bureaucracy, at one point we all seek to restore a mea-sure of sanity to our lives when our world is temporarily turned up-side down. Of course, there are some types of axis-tilting that can never be made right...and no matter how young or old a parent is, the saddest thing to ever seek justice for is to find the murderer of your child.
The new movie In The Valley Of Elah explores this theme in depth, with powerful performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Char-lize Theron. The movie opens with an early morning phone call to retired soldier Hank Deerfield(Jones) from his son's army base, stating that his son has gone AWOL. Knowing what kind of person his son is, Hank refuses to believe it, and is certain that his son Mike(played by Jonathan Tucker in flashback) will be heard from soon. However, when some time passes, Hank--a former crime scene investigator for the army--decides to see what the local law can dig up.
In biblical scripture, the valley of Elah was the site where David fought and killed Goliath. In this film, it is a metaphor for the little guy standing up to the insane bureacracy and red tape of the real world in order to find out what happened to his boy. It doesn't take long for a mutilated corpse to be found and identified as Mike, which only serves to compound the grief for Hank and his wife Joan(Susan Sarandon), who have already lost another younger son some time ago in a helicopter crash on an army base. Following Hank's example, both his sons had gone into the armed forces, and Joan's grief explodes as she rails at Hank, "Couldn't you have left me one son?" It's a powerful moment, brought forth ably by the always capable Sarandon.
In the co-starring role is the ever-amazing Charlize Theron as Detective Emily Sanders, a young woman and single mom who made the mistake of sleeping with her boss(Josh Brolin) to receive her promotion from beat cop to detective. The real trouble is that everyone in her squad knows it, and they remind her of their lack of respect for her every chance they get. In the film Monster Theron uglied herself up; here in Elah she plains herself down, yet still retains that essence of natural beauty that is inescapable. Her per-formance as detective Sanders--desperate to earn the respect of her squad members and to show that she is capable of her ill-gained job--is as sturdy as in any film in which she's ever appeared. Who could have ever guessed that from such humble beginnings as Children of the Corn III and Devil's Advocate, such a leading actress power would emerge? Tommy Lee Jones is also at his best as a father searching for answers no one seems willing to give, to ask the questions no one seems to want to ask, all the while having no option but to remain as stoic and unattached as possible. He's a father first here, but he must use all his training as an army CSI to keep himself from shattering at any instant.
The problems with In The Valley Of Elah, however, have nothing to do with the actors. All of them--James Franco(Spider-Man trilogy) as the base sergeant who Hank initially reaches out to, Frances Fisher(House Of Sand And Fog) as a topless waitress trying to help and Josh Brolin(the "Planet Terror" section of Grind-house) as Theron's boss and former lover, all turn in grand perfor-mances. Even Jason Patric(The Alamo), whom I've never been able to stand, carries himself well in this film. Director/writer Paul Haggis(2004's Crash) and his co-writer Mark Boal's(only credit: The Hurt Locker) script is well-written and solid for the most part. However, rather than make the film an intense search-and-find hunt for the answers as to who killed Hank's boy, Elah is treated more as a character study. Jones' Hank, as a former CSI, pretty much knows everything and must teach the inexperienced Sanders how to do her job. He dazzles her with his years of expertise almost to the point of wide-eyed wonder, allowing her to toss off occasional nug-gets of his wisdom to the other officers in her precinct like Daniel learning from Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.
The movie so focuses on the investigation into Mike's murder, that we are actually bequeathed very litle information on who Hank and Emily really are. One gets the sense that for all of Hank's desires for order in his life, that he and Joan only stay together for their children's sake. While there is a cute scene where Hank is invited over to Sarah's for dinner and later tells her son a bedtime story--and it is a humanizing moment for Hank--we never get any real insight into who Sarah is, what made her choose to sleep with her boss, or what life she has outside of her job and tending to her child.
Strangely, for a film which is so steeped in the proper under-standing of police procedure and how the law tracks down and finds the criminals for which it searches, it is an odd condemnation of the miltary. While searching through his son's room at the bar-racks, Hank is told by a soldier that there's plenty of thievery in the barracks. Having relatives in the military, having friends in the mili-tary, and having written military science fiction, I can state with a fair degree of certainty that there is not a lot of thievery in the barracks. One of the first oaths marines--indeed all soldiers--swear is that they will not "lie, cheat or steal." A soldier would more than likely be so afraid of separation--being fully and irrevocably dishonorably discharged from the corps--that they wouldn't dare risk stealing any item from a friend...even if that friend was dead. The film, like so many similarly themed coming out these days, also takes several swipes at the Bush administration. While I usually wouldn't have a problem with that, I am getting seriously tired of movies beating me over the head with their political viewpoints.
For all its flaws, In The Valley Of Elah is a very strong film, espe-cially when Hank or Emily are present. The ending however, is 100% unsatisfying. While not ambiguous as other recent films have been, the ending comes with too neat a bow attached, and no final emotional coda for Jones' Hank. At just under two hours(and at times feeling every second of it), I think the audience could have been afforded one. It's a shame that a movie which started out so promisingly peters out less than a third of the way through, and all we are left with is a movie that wants to be A Few Good Men, but just doesn't have the heart or the intensity.
Official Archives of LanceReviews...
Valley of Sorrow
A search for truth & justice delivers strong performances but little payoff...
Valley of Elah: Biblical metaphor for the little guy standing his ground against the modern world..
Not satisfied with the course of the local authorities' inves-tigation, Jones' Hank Deerfield decides to launch his own.
Charlize Theron plays a cop who made a mistake to get her job...and must now live with its consequences.
Susan Sarandon does a great job in the role of wife Joan, a woman who has little to do except grieve as news of her son comes in.
