Review of Cast Away (2000) by Chegue J — 12 Aug 2012

[size=3]Rarely has a movie star been asked to carry a film to the extent that Tom Hanks is in Robert Zemeckis' [i]Cast Away[/i]. Zemeckis, who directed Hanks to an Academy Award in [i]Forrest Gump[/i], may give the star an even bigger challenge in this film. First, Hanks must portray a rather abrasive, time-obsessed employee of Fed-Ex. Then, in the film's most extended sequence, he is required to be reduced to his roots and learn basic human survival skills. And finally, in the film's third act, he is called upon to demonstrate the emotional depth of a man learning to re-adjust to society. All of this is, of course, as a result of the Hanks character surviving a plane crash (a scary and spectacular plane crash) and being washed up on a deserted island. The island scenes are spectacular in this movie: they accentuate the beauty and also the terror of the island, they allow us to understand the island's geography, they are devoid of music and almost devoid of dialogue, and they simply rely on Hanks' presence and ability to convey his thoughts to keep us interested. Fortunately, Hanks succeeds wonderfully in making us interested in the mundane. Scenes of his character learning to crack a coconut, make a fire, or build a raft are fascinating simply because we in the audience would probably feel just as helpless. Zemeckis uses these island scenes as a contrast to the opening scenes which show Hanks as a master of conventional American comfort...a man obsessed with production and efficiency who rarely contemplates the thin thread on which his whole world stands. There is only one element in the film that stops it from being a masterpiece: an ending scene that feels as if it was out of a soap opera. In the early scenes of the film, Hanks is shown with his girlfriend (played by Helen Hunt). Their meeting at the end of the film begins well, but is dragged on for so long that it becomes maudlin and forced. This one blip is forgiveable, though, considering how captivating, original and beautiful the preceding scenes have been.[/size].

[size=3]Note: Some people complained that the film seems like a 2-hour advertisement for Fed-Ex, considering that the hero works for them and several packages are featured prominently. Personally, I like it when films use real companies to tell their story, as opposed to something like "National Shipment". Since seeing the film, I haven't once used Fed-Ex services...so if the film is meant as shameless product placement, it failed.[/size].

[size=3](BASIC) [/size].