Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

grantss OK, but could have been a lot better. What should have a decent murder- mystery and human drama is sidetracked and eroded by the writer/director's clear enthusiasm to make an anti-war movie. Now, Paul Haggis is a good director (see Crash) and even better writer (Million Dollar Baby, Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Crash), but by deciding to add an anti-war slant he diluted his efforts. In order to accommodate this stance, plot holes developed and the movie became contrived and clichéd. While the ending should have been an emotional one, I ended up feeling betrayed and disappointed.Solid performances.

SnoopyStyle In Munro, Tennessee, hard-nosed former military police Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) receives a call that his son Mike is missing after returning from Iraq and soon to be declared AWOL. He and his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) had already lost a son to war. He travels to Fort Rudd, New Mexico. Local police detective (Charlize Theron) is overwhelmed by troubled vets and hazing from fellow cops. Mike's burnt dismembered body is soon found on military property. It becomes a fight over jurisdiction and road blocks from superiors.This is some of Paul Haggis' best work. It's a bleak portrait. Tommy Lee Jones is great at this type of hard-nosed man. Theron's struggles as a working single mom is compelling. The murder mystery is stark. It's not really a whodunnit mystery which makes the ending fitting. The dark take on the Iraq campaign does overwhelm at times especially the reveal at the end. Haggis takes a couple of parting shots at the end that are probably unnecessary. By that time, the point has already been made.

denvergrown303 This movie is SO boring! The plot has some intense moments, but mostly just long awkward silences with the actors staring at each other with blank stares or doing the thousand yard stare off into the distance. The score for this film is like 4 keys on a piano played at a snails pace. Ding.... bomm.....ding.... bomm..... If I hadn't drank a cup of coffee I would have fallen asleep watching this movie. This movie really is 2 hours of long pointless periods of emptiness, interspersed with slow conversations. I can appreciate a pause for effect as you reveal another revelation in the plot, but this is too much. They walk into a restaurant, pause as the camera pans for 60 seconds. They walk out into the parking lot and sit in the car. Stare off into the distance for 30 seconds. There's nothing to digest, no plot development, just them sitting there.... not talking... The pace was so slow it was actually annoying. Unless you have nothing better to do with your time, and you've already watched every other movie, you should pass on this one.

richard-798 Every play/screenplay contains a mystery. David Mamet's credo. Haggis and Mark Boal know how to structure a story with plenty of mystery. Elah is one of the best treatments of Iraq subject matter you'll ever see. They tread some sensitive material and they know how to work a plot. Charlise Theron and Tommy Lee Jones are fascinating to watch, they are the synthesis of two types of acting: playing-against and underplay. They are the best at quiet aggression and anxiety. The film rides on a razor's edge and the cast couldn't be better at balance and restraint. Jason Patric and Josh Brolin submit a low-key intensity in their performances that is nerve-wracking. Great stuff. This film is not for everyone. If you like what the Bush administration accomplished with creating a war in Iraq, what it has done to our society and some of our young military men and women, this movie is stark, real, and unpleasant in it's duplicity of military duty and innate civil morality. You will feel caught in the vise along with the civilians and military men depicted. Ultimately, the film belongs to Jones. He is a father who must face the truth about his son's behavior in the war zone, and the truth of his murder by his own comrades. Theron and/or Jones should have won awards for their roles. Brilliant filmmaking supported by equally brilliant acting. Feature movie-making at its best. If you don't like this kind of story construction, watch television. Bite the bullet and sit through it. You owe it to so many who have served and been injured, physically and mentally, by our government in a false war that never should have been engaged.