The verdict on Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah": Not nearly as reprehensible as "Crash," but still pretty hackish nonetheless. I'm with Philadelphia Weekly's Matt Prigge:
"When it was announced that Haggis’ follow-up was about the Iraq War, the response was roughly on par with when Oliver Stone proclaimed his next movie would deal with 9/11. What in Jesus Herold Christ on rubber crutches could the manipulative shockmeister who dreamt up a scene where disillusioned actor Terrence Howard tries to get himself shot by the notoriously racist LAPD have to say about our national disgrace?Yea, any movie where Terrence Howard intentionally gets shot- "Crash," "The Brave One"- pretty much automatically sucks.Best not to think about it. So it’s with a modicum of relief that, like Stone’s World Trade Center, Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah is terrible in a completely different way than anticipated. It’s merely a lousy, poorly plotted procedural with the topicality awkwardly (and cynically) grafted on. Phew—I guess. "
I also associate myself completely with every word of James Berardinelli's review. It's hard to tell which movie has a more insulting, howl-worthy ending, "Valley of Elah," or "The Kingdom."