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In the Valley of Elah

2007 • 2h 4m •
History Drama Thriller Crime Mystery
MOVIEVIBE Rating
★ 6.8/10
1,134 reviews
Your Rating
In the Valley of Elah
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A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.

"Sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it."

Top Billed Cast

Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Hank Deerfield
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron
Detective Emily Sanders
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Joan Deerfield
Frances Fisher
Frances Fisher
Evie
James Franco
James Franco
Sergeant Carnelli
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Tucker
Mike Deerfield
Jason Patric
Jason Patric
Lieutenant Kirklander
Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin
Chief Buchwald

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

K Kenneth Axel Carlsson Verified TMDB Critic
2014-12-30

A soldier disappears after he has come back from Iraq. His father, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), is alerted and sets off in the hopes of finding his son. He soon finds out that his son was actually killed, brutally you might say, his body cut up and burned. The evidence lead in no real directions, but it soon becomes apparent that his army bodies are lying, also, the images that Hank recovers from his son's phone, seem to suggest that something happened in Iraq.

To say anything more would be to ruin the movie. However, this movie is not just a crime story, where we follow the father and...

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2025-03-17

When “Hank” (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a call to say that his soldier son “Mike” has gone awol shortly after his return to the USA from Iraq, he sets off to track him down. Initially, he hits a wall of indifference from investigators but then an hacked-up body is discovered and quickly identified as the missing man. Together with police officer “Sanders” (Charlize Theron) - who is, herself, having to prove her worth in a chauvinist department of clods, they decide it’s best to work together on a case that seems to suggest that drugs might be at the bottom of the case and that some of...