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| In the Valley of Elah | 
 enlarge | Actors: Josh Brolin, Barry Corbin, Wayne Duvall, Frances Fisher, Tommy Lee Jones
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $3.93
You Save: $16.05 (80%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $3.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  (95 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6004
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 121 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD117627D
UPC: 085391176275
EAN: 0085391176275
ASIN: B0011V7PSC
Release Date: February 19, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Anti-Military Propaganda May 21, 2008
7 out of 17 found this review helpful
How disappointing. "In the Valley of Elah" turned out to be a piece of anti-military propaganda. The message is that the military takes sweet young men and turns them into drug-addicted, torturing, cold-blooded murders, and then covers it up. Tommy Lee Jones can sure act...I just wish he wouldn't waste his chops on films like this.
Worth it May 21, 2008
This is a poignant review of the potential side-effects of being a soldier in the Middle East wars. It is a crime-scene drama with real-life reminders of the current American situation in the Middle East,yet manages not to be politically biased. The story-line focuses on the experience of the soldier rather than the political machine that got him where he is. Set primarily in America, a father, Tommy Lee Jones, goes searching for his missing son. He and Susan Sarandon, the mother, are amazing as two parents battling grief and the unknown. Their struggle, as well as the struggle of soldiers' lives after returning home after war, is meaningful, heartbreaking and well-worth visiting for the stay-at-home American.
Powerful, Compelling and Sad May 20, 2008
What a terribly sad film. "In the Valley of Elah" tugs at heart strings and although not based on a true story is perhaps emblematic of many American veterans of the war in Iraq.
Tommy Lee Jones plays Hank Deerfield, a war veteran whose son, Mike, has just returned from Iraq. Yet although Mike has returned, he has gone missing. Hank decides to look into the matter. He quickly learns that Mike has died a horrible murderous death. His paternal instincts lead him to investigate the matter and, in the process, he forms a bond of sorts with a detective, Emily Sanders, who is played by Charlize Theron. Slowly and methodically, they piece the puzzle together. The result is very grim with soldiers who have witnessed great tragedy in a war having difficulties adjusting back to civilian life.
In many respects, "In the Valley of Elah" is simply a whodunit. But to leave it at this point is to disregard a powerful story and a brooding plot that lets the actors shine. The performances of Jones and Theron are excellent. So too is the cameo role played by Susan Sarandon as Hank's wife. Her world is truly ripped apart as this death follows the earlier death of her older son. Her family is broken asunder.
Although this is a film where attention to detail is required, do not let this claim put off any potential viewers. The film is challenging but, ultimately, rewarding.
 Unclear May 17, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a dishonest film that suggests all military in combat can return home, still kill someone and, immediately after the deed, satisfy a hungry stomach. It makes no attempt to convey the idea that most combat service people, dealing with serious emotional issues, don't embrace this sort of attitude and conduct. The film also suggests that this is an issue unique to the situation in Iraq. All military, in all countries, in all wars have members who committed such acts. If you're going to protest the war in Iraq, through a screenplay, do so addressing the issues pertaining to this war. If you feel that the soldiers are victims, say it more clearly than how it is done in this screenplay. I say this as a Liberal Democrat. "In the Valley of Elah" is as narrow and dishonest, in its information, as John Wayne's Right Wing "The Green Beret." The war in Iraq is too complex to try to squeeze your opposition to it into a script about a homicide investigation.
 Great movie making with scary, doubting message May 10, 2008
This year past was better than good it was Great. It's a great film that belongs in the same category as the best of last year. Tommy Lee Jones was also great in last years Western No Country for Old Men The Mystery is like a steel stake, and Tommy Lee Jones is the powerful workman who pounds it down to its clairvoyant climax. He has that strong face with determined lines of age that makes me believe and follow him without any inner struggle from me, which comes to actors that aren't casted properly. Nothing short of the performance of a lifetime. Though some may be rubbed wrong by the anti-war/Iraq message which potrays its American Troops as Drug abusing, prostitute buying, murderous maniacs. The ending left me asking myself questions like, "Was there an Anti-American agenda to this film?" As I felt it painted our Troops too haphazardly in a bad light. You make movies in the time your living, and many see it bleakly. It is, but do we need movies beating us over the head with it? And it felt ridiculous that the man who murdered his son would share a smoke and behave so innocently.
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