Review of Cast Away (2000) by Campbell P — 25 Sep 2015

Robert Zemeckis is responsible for making some of the modern classics in recent history. He's become one of the most mainstream filmmakers in recent history as well, with films like Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and now Cast Away.

What makes Cast Away so different from what's out there nowadays is that the main focus of the film was survival for the longer portion of the movie and not being rescued. It also examined the behaviors of Chuck Nolan who opened up people's eyes to what effects were to be present in this predicament.

The basic plot for the 2000 film follows the life of FedEx employee, Chuck Nolan, who while on a plane ride for deliveries gets into a humongous crash leaving him stranded on an island for 4 years. The writers did a great job with showing the trauma that went over Chuck over the years and how adapting to this environment made everything he was uncomfortable about doing in the beginning seem like a norm.

Tom Hanks gets full screen treatment for pretty much every minute of the 2 and a half hour run time and honestly made this movie worth watching. Through his great performance, he was able to show every emotion he felt without saying much dialogue.

That's impressive that you can convince others as to what you are thinking through gestures and facial expressions. Helen Hunt was not given an easy role to play. She had to contain her emotions and feelings throughout the film and through a great talk between her and Chuck, was able to realize that she can't ditch her life to start over just like he did with his.

She gave an almost heartbreaking performance that can surely leave people in tears. Transitioning into emotional core, there's always this sense of hope that Chuck has while he's on the island that one day he'll see his wife again and make up for his mistakes and this raises tension and care for him as a character.

He makes us believe that he really loves his wife and what he values in life as realistic. The setting on the island brought depth and guidance to Chuck and the audience too. Viewers get to see an up close look at the hardships and emotions being experienced and it's really effective.

His relationship with Wilson builds up character and while I don't think it's insanity, I view it more as humanity. He needs to release his feelings and that's a humane process that everyone contributes to.

The problem I have with this film is that there isn't enough time at the beginning to explain the power between Kelly and Chuck's relationship and there can be many conclusions drawn as to how they felt about each other.

There could've been higher stakes and increased tension if I know how much they loved each other. Cast Away is a movie that makes a person feel more humane and helps us realize that we should value what we have and embrace our humanity because if we don't have humanity in characters and stories, you can't relate to them and makes it hard to get on board with them.

Zemeckis does a really nice job on Cast Away and created a memorable plot and a powerful third act message on if you should continue to follow the long road to stay with what you have or take the short way to town to help you leave to forget.

B+.