In the Valley of Elah puts Charlize Theron and Tommy Lee Jones on the hunt for a killer.

It’s the phone call all parents fear: a stern, emotionless voice telling them their child is missing. In this thriller, Hank (Tommy Lee Jones) and Joan (Susan Sarandon) Deerfield receive that call with a strange twist: Their son is a veteran of the Iraq war and his disappearance occurred after he returned to the United States.

In the Valley of Elah — writer and director Paul Haggis’ follow-up to the Oscar-winning Crash — starts with Hank, a brusque Vietnam veteran and retired military police sergeant, leaving his wife in Tennessee and traveling to Fort Rudd, N.M., to look into the disappearance of his son Mike (Jonathan Tucker). Once he learns that Mike was brutally murdered, Hank investigates on his own after a homicide detective (Charlize Theron) and a local lieutenant (Jason Patric) get bogged down in a jurisdictional dispute.

Elah is a compelling and well-acted murder mystery. The gruesome circumstances surrounding Mike’s death and Hank’s stoic determination to solve the murder are intriguing, and the story grows more intense and captivating as the investigation unfolds.

Hank may be one of the finest turns in Jones’ career, even though Haggis reportedly wrote the role for Clint Eastwood (who swears he’ll never act again). In one heartbreaking moment, when he learns of his son’s death, Hank fights back tears with a vein throbbing in his neck, then instantly transforms into a father dedicated to finding his son’s killer. That intensity carries the movie.

It’s too bad that the film’s larger message — that the horrors of war led to Mike’s erratic behavior, and, in turn, his death — never quite connects, though that’s probably because the only battle images are distorted pictures from Mike’s cell phone videos. While those pictures do provide fractured glimpses of the soldiers, they do not explain Mike’s behavior after he returned home, a shortcoming that leaves the movie hollow in spite of the superb acting.

Even the title of the film doesn’t connect. The Valley of Elah was the site where David fought and defeated Goliath, but its relevance to the story isn’t clear. (Is Hank supposed to be David in a fight against the U.S. government?)

In Crash, the melodrama and melancholy music lifted the emotion because viewers could identify with the social issues at its core. In Elah, Haggis openly criticizes the war and how it affects both soldiers and their families, but the political issues at hand are too unclear for the commentary to hit home.

Early in the film, when Hank spots an American flag accidentally flying upside down in front of a school, he stops, fixes it and explains to the custodian that an upside down flag is an international distress signal that should be used only when things are so bad that we can’t save ourselves. Sadly, the reason why things are so bad, both in Elah and reality, remains a mystery.

In the Valley of Elah *** Written and directed by Paul Haggis. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Jason Patric and Jonathan Tucker. Rated R. **** A genuine must-see *** Entertaining ** Mediocre, but not worthless * A wretched waste of time Also opening in Miami-Dade County this Friday: Eastern Promises, Sydney White, The Hunting Party, Good Luck Chuck