In The Valley Of Elah (2006/2007; HD-DVD/DVD Combo Disc)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
In what
has become a cycle of dramas on the Iraq war and it related effects, the
documentaries have outstripped the dramatic feature films and one of the
reasons is that none of these films have made the big statement made more
effectively before the same mistakes were made again as in films like Three Kings. Cutting through what has really happened is
half the job, but Paul Haggis’ tries the microcosm route with In The Valley Of Elah (2007) with Tommy
Lee Jones as a father trying to find out how his soldier son died.
He can
carry the film and gives a fine performance, but the biggest problem here is
that the mystery is weak, we have seen this done better with films like Courage Under Fire and A Few Good Men (both reviewed on
Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) without the impact. Susan Sarandon makes the most of the mother
role and the statement being made is not explicit enough to have impact. Though worth a look just for the performances
that also include Charleze Theron, Josh Brolin, Frances Fisher, Jason Patric,
Barry Corbin and James Franco.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is good but troubled with some detail
and depth issues despite being a new film shot by no less than Roger Deakins,
A.S.C./B.S.C. and maybe this was not a disc that should have been a Combo
version. Especially when the standard
anamorphically enhanced DVD side is as weak as it is here. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is not bad, though can
often be minimal for this dialogue-driven film, though it is noticeably better
than the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix on the HD side that accompanies it and
standard Dolby 5.1 mix on the DVD side.
Mark Isham’s score is a plus. Extras
include thankfully deleted scenes and two featurettes: After Iraq and Coming Home.
- Nicholas Sheffo