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Viewer Score

53
Viewer score based on 11 votes.

Critic Score

65
Critics' score based on 37 reviews.
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Your Reviews

Paul Haggis, how dare you fly my flag upside down. You piece of ****! Tommy Lee. You are supposed to be a serious actor. Why did you sign up to... ke in this mockery of a movie. Full Review

September 19,2009
euvin

Some great acting, but a more dishonorable and slanted story line than anyone could imagine. It does a terrible disservice to our service people who... put their lives on the line for our freedom. Just more in a long and sad line of Hollyweird propaganda. War is hell, but warriors deserve better than this garbage. Full Review

February 21,2009
Hwofac

This is a beautiful movie and among the most moving I have seen in a long time. Tommy Lee Jones is a brilliant actor and brings subtle quietness but... determination to this role. The upside down flag symbolization is truly dramatic. I can't believe this movie was passed over and that stupid "No Country for Old Men" won a best picture oscar. This was by far a better movie. Full Review

December 01,2008
Dawn11760

We Americans think of ourselves as the good guys, but war is ugly. We place our young men in horrible situations, and many end up doing horrible... gs. They lose their humanity and it changes them forever. Though the soldier was murdered when back from Iraq, he is a war casualty and even his murderers can be seen as such. The father realizes America is now Goliath and the country is in distress and symbolizes this with the upside down flag. Full Review

May 22,2008
baerbel43

DONT KNOW IF THEY MADE TOMMY LEE JONES TO LOOK OLDER FOR THE PICTURE OR HAS HE REALLY AGED THAT MUCH,LOOKS LIKE 70 SOMETHING.DONT KNOW WHAT HE DID IN... THE ARMY,ONLY THAT HE WAS IN VIET NAM. PLOT HARD TO FOLLOW,MADE NO SENSE WHEN YOU DID FIGURE IT OUT. Full Review

May 22,2008
bobdekat
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Critic Reviews

For the most part it is an effective, disturbing and - a rarity for Haggis - subtle exploration of the stateside war story.Full Review

San Francisco Chronicle

Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah is built on Tommy Lee Jones' persona, and that is why it works so well. The same material could have been banal or routine with an actor trying to be "earnest" and "sincere."Full Review

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times

For the most part it is an effective, disturbing and - a rarity for Haggis - subtle exploration of the stateside war story.Full Review

Tamara Straus
San Francisco Chronicle

It's the first Hollywood Iraq movie to remind me of a Vietnam film like Coming Home, and it does more than disturb. It scalds, moves, and heals.Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

A deeply reflective, quietly powerful work that is as timely as it is moving.Full Review

Michael Rechtshaffen
The Hollywood Reporter
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