In the Valley of Elah

2.5/4 stars

In the Valley of Elah is a movie that tries to be a mystery, a tragedy and a political statement. As a mystery it is dense and unpredictable (if somewhat dry), as a tragedy it is well acted and strikingly composed. However, the film's political agenda derails its success in other areas.

Tommy Lee Jones is the protagonist, a father who tries to solve his son's murder even as he grieves. His quiet intensity and constrained emotion are the film's greatest asset, and a reminder of Jones' incredible talent. He plays a character struggling with many emotions; anger, guilt, courage and determination, and he balances them all with great restraint. Charlize Theron gives a well drawn performance as the ambivalent police detective who helps him. The supporting cast includes numerous talented actors and strikes the right note as well, even if this often only requires them to be somber.

Whether or not they agree with the film's political sentiments (a condemnation of war in general and the Iraq war in particular), viewers will find that they rob the film's conclusion of the emotional payoff we should be feeling. Instead of playing as ingenious plot twist, the mystery's solution seems like an arbitrary deux es machina, designed to take us by surprise in the most tragic way possible. The use of a flashback at the end to twist the knife undermines the spare and direct storytelling style that the movie has established, and its powerful final image seems an unearned contrivance. Paul Haggis, while a highly talented writer and director, also has a history of such heavy-handedness (see Crash). In the Valley of Elah is another entry in his catalogue that overshoots the correct balance between drama and message.

Batman Forever

1/4 stars

God, this movie is terrible. Though it has the benefit of a few good actors (Kilmer, Jones) to balance out the not so good (Nicole Kidman consistently fails to impress me, and in 1995 Jim Carrey simply wasn't an actor yet) and a few redeeming moments, the overall product is an insultingly stupid bastardization of everything Batman is supposed to be. Instead of gritty, moody, psychologically complex crime drama, we get this garish carnival of over the top design, direction and personalities.

Written October 15, 2007.

No Country For Old Men

1/4 stars

Having already heard the generous praise of this movie from all corners, I spent its entire two hours looking for something to like about it. Sadly, I was unsuccessful. This film has no strong themes, no real character development, almost no music, and no resolution. Not to say that it wasn't well made, that it didn't effectively establish suspense and that it wasn't at least somewhat engrossing, but does that matter? Are those qualities supposed to be enough? In this film, the characters are their actions, nothing more. Like just about everyone else, I'm a big fan of the Coen brothers' Fargo. This is not that film. It lacks the moral center, the subtle interactions between people, the conflict of ideals, and dozens of other things that made Fargo so good. Though the Tommy Lee Jones characters shares some traits with Frances McDormand's, he isn't really a full fledged character, so much as a mouthpiece for an unrealistically bleak worldview. Likewise, Bardem's character is merely an embodiment of this. The fact that he runs around flipping a coin doesn't make him an "agent of fate" as has so often been stated, it merely means that he thinks of himself as one. Though Bardem's performance is good (at what little he's given to do), the character isn't original, just another manifestation of the brainless Hollywood villain who runs around blasting everything in sight. It's as if they thought that by letting him stand unopposed they were creating a new and ingeniously original character. Having considered what the movie has to offer, I see no reason to move from my initial judgement coming out of the theater. No Country For Old Men is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Written February 4, 2008.