Review of Cast Away (2000) by Ryan H — 15 Sep 2012

The script knows exactly how to grab the audience and when to let go (well, most of the time at least). The best example I can give here is the plane crash scene. Nothing easy can come about this. It starts out with the joke about Santa and turbulence, then the next thing we know is that Chuck's hanging on in the bathroom and his feet are flying in the air.

The plane's going down. It's not scary enough having a plane crash, but there are crates of FedEx packages that could crush Chuck and the pilots (and one of them does) and Chuck even drops the family heirloom that Kelly gives him right before he leaves.

Of course we're going to see Chuck trying to fight the intense speed of the plane to retrieve the watch. Plus we're also terrified because he doesn't have a life jacket nor does he have the raft.

We know he's going to survive in the end of the crash, so they have to add in all of these elements to make the crash as tense as possible. Like I said, nothing can be easy. No divine intervention can come.

Zemeckis does a brilliant job by showing the water out the window right before the plane crashes to show how fast it has been going, plus it gives you the feeling of actually being on the plane when it crashes.

Once the plane's in the water you see a hole burst through the top. Easy, that's his way out. However, the raft gets stuck on something in the plane and Chuck has to get it off in order to get out.

Then once he's out you think it would be easy, but no. The engine loudly keeps moving, which looks like it could suck in Chuck. Instead of him having to get away from the engine because it will suck him in, it explodes.

As if that wasn't enough, the water becomes hectic because it's storming. That's probably why the plane went down. Like I said, we might know he survives, but that still didn't stop that from being an intense experience.

This gives a big setup for the island. We know he's going to eventually get off the island, but that's not what it's about. That's never what this script is about. We're following Chuck to see how hard he's going to fight to survive.

He wants to get home to be with Kelly again. Also, he wants to deliver that one package that floats on shore. We see Chuck trying to start a fire because without that he could be poisoned from raw fish that he eats.

We see him develop a friendship with a volleyball. We see him rip out one of his teeth because of an infection. What would make you want to live that badly? In a way, that's what reminded me of 127 Hours.

I was more affected by that film, but Cast Away does a brilliant job with the same idea. How do you keep an audience interested in a man stuck on an island? Most people would have cut down the island and made it about before and after.

Luckily they knew better than that. I was much more interested in the island stuff than his relationship with Kelly. The first acts brilliant, though. Everything's set up to be about Chuck's obsession with time.

FedEx must deliver packages quicker. The heirloom's a watch. People ask when Chuck's going to finally ask Kelly to marry him. Time always seems to be something that we think we have plenty of, but what would happen if five years were taken from you? I don't think the children were thought out very well in this story.

Kelly's child seemed to be about 3 years old, which means that she probably got in a relationship not long after Chuck's disappearance, even though he was the love of her life. Perhaps it was more than 5 years, but I don't think so.

If I'm not mistaken, when Chuck buries the captain he writes the year to be 1995 (maybe 1994) and this film came out in 2000. Either way, it seemed like they just rushed things along for the drama in the end.

I think many more interesting things could have come about rather than having the woman he loved be married and have a kid. The relationship melodrama didn't seem to fit too well. And the ending might have been a little heavy-handed in the obvious metaphor of standing at the crossroads in your life, which one will you choose? But none of that bothered me too much because on some level it worked.

Overall I was surprised by Cast Away and was glad I finally got to see it.