Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I saw this film the same day as my second viewing of “Hugo” and that movie is quite a bit better. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” has some noteworthy acting performances but it is a typical script from the Oscar winner of “Forrest Gump” with nothing really unique to offer.

I feel the atmosphere of “the worst day” was well captured but not nearly as well as on “World Trade Center” or “United 93”. There was a nice sense of realism but the overly dramatic portrayal of the script prevented the movie from feeling genuine. The story was good but the movie pushed its dramatic sense too much for my taste. The script in itself tried to be more dramatic than it actually was capable. Screenwriter Eric Roth once again tries to achieve the success he did with “Forrest Gump”. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was better in my view than “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. This new film relates to those two films quite obviously and it would be nice for Roth to move away from stories where the main character touches the lives of many others through a large journey. Sometimes the best thing to do is to let the story tell itself. Sure you need good actors, good direction & so forth but a story can be read by one person & still be dramatic. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” went too far in trying to affect its audience. On the other hand, I did find the scene where Oskar and his mother argue in the middle of the night quite powerful and I liked its resolution in the scene where Oskar’s mother confesses she new about his reconnaissance mission. These scenes worked however because of the acting and not the script or direction they were given. The movie didn’t get good until Oskar meets his grandfather aka The Renter. Another criticism I have is that the character of Oskar was too complex and troubled in so much that we could not relate to him. Most people who see this movie did not lose someone personal on September 11 and thus this movie does not really appeal to them. We can relate to Oskar and his family before 9/11 but afterward is a little difficult because of the high sense of drama.

As I said, the acting in this movie is its best quality. I cannot believe that this is Thomas Horn’s first movie. I am sure we will see him in future films because he was the best actor in this movie by far. After Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts teamed up this year, I was glad that Sandra Bullock was next to play off of Hanks because of this movie. After her Oscar win for “The Blind Side”, she sure shows us that she was worthy of it by way of her work on this movie. Max von Sydow deserved his Oscar nomination for his work as The Renter but I like me much better in Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report". Von Sydow's nomination is reminiscient of Rinko Kikuchi's nomination for "Babel". This is Viola Davis’ second September 11th movie and she once again does amazing. Her characters from “World Trade Center” and “The Help” are very different from the character of Abby. She is very different in every film she is in and I really applaud her for that. Aside from the acting, the movie insists that it can compete at the Oscars against “The Help” and “War Horse” but it is wrong. Even though it was nominated Best Picture, there was very little hope of it winning. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” pushed its dramatic sense too far and it spoiled the experience.

2.5 Stars