Implausible 9/11 drama 'Extremely' exploitive
Practically every scene in Stephen Daldry's "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" exploits the sadness, anger, guilt, loss and confusion that young Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) feels on what he calls "The Worst Day," the morning of Sept. 11 when jets struck the World Trade Center killing his perfect father.
Some viewers might find "Extremely Loud" to be highly cathartic. Or if not, at least a sincere attempt to explain - through a child's prism - a larger world that is not understandable. Or fair. Or sensible.
Still, the extremely manipulative "Extremely Loud" is beset with credibility problems, the most obvious one being Horn's character Oskar, an opinionated, know-it-all who comes across like Sheldon's love child from the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory."
Oskar, who takes pride in being a good liar (and keeps track of the number of his lies) tells most of the story in bold, rambling voice-over narrations that reveal his every thought and intention.
"Extremely Loud" is Oskar's story, told from his perspective, except when screenwriters Eric Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer run into expository problems, so they confuse us with scenes and events that Oskar can't tell us about because he doesn't know they happened.
In flashbacks, we see how saintly Dad (Tom Hanks) - a New York jeweler who really wanted to be a scientist - treated Oskar as his great explorer buddy on grand "reconnaissance" missions throughout the city, trips intended to teach Oskar about the world and force the shy boy to interact with people.
Oskar has a tough time dealing with Dad's funeral, especially burying an empty, symbolic casket. He constantly pinches himself black and blue to inflict horrible, distracting pain.
His mom (Sandra Bullock in a startlingly mature performance), still reeling from loss, doesn't know how to deal with Oskar's rage.
"I wish it were you in that building instead of him!" Oskar shouts.
Mom, numbed by this attack, looks at him and simply says, "So do I."
A year after the Worst Day, Oskar finds a key inside a blue vase in Dad's closet, a key with the name "Black" on it.
Oskar becomes convinced he can keep his father's memory alive if he treats the key as one of their missions. He must track down every person named Black in New York City and see if the key matches a lock he or she might have.
He begins his quest, and soon picks up an unexpected sidekick: an old man who rents an apartment from Oskar's grandmother.
The Renter is played by Max von Sydow, who now resembles the elderly priest he played with old-age makeup in 1973's "The Exorcist." The Renter cannot, or will not, speak, but communicates through hand gestures (left means Yes, right means No) and notes.
Von Sydow employs his marvelously expressive face to excellent advantage here. He punctuates the world weariness of his brow with a glint of boyish ebullience.
Meanwhile, Oskar meets many Blacks on his journey, some of them spiritual, some of them rude, some of them like Abby Black (the amazing Viola Davis, stealing this movie with a cameo), who tries to help the lad despite being in a personal crisis.
The specter of 9/11 looms over every scene in "Extremely Loud" as if Daldry were constantly reminding us of his movie's self-importance.
Six phone messages left by Dad the morning he died are used as a shameless plot device. Why did Oskar tell Mom that Dad never called? What could be so horrible about Message No. 6 that Oskar can't bear to hear it?
Other credibility issues - such as Mom not caring about her son roaming all over New York - are addressed with clumsy, tacked-on explanations.
"Extremely Loud" pulls out all the exploitative stops when Oskar blows up a photo of a man falling from the Towers on 9/11 and becomes convinced <I>it's his wonderful dad.
</I>"I wasn't getting any closer to Dad!" Oskar's voice-over narrator shouts. "I was losing him!"
Kind of like how Daldry's "Extremely Loud" loses us along the way.
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
★ ½
Starring: Tom Hanks, Max von Sydow, Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG-13 for language and disturbing images. 129 minutes