Utilizes Multiple Genres And Nails Them All

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2017)

In 1985, director Rob Zemeckis created perhaps the most genre-diverse film of all-time with Back To The Future. Fifteen years later, he came close to duplicating that extraordinary feat with Cast Away, an incredibly diverse movie in its own right.
For a basic plot summary, Cast Away tells the story of Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), a FedEx worker who goes down over the Pacific in an airplane, washes ashore a deserted island, and must fend for himself in the harsh terrain and conditions.
The key to this film is its ability to combine such genres as action, adventure, disaster, comedy, and drama and, most importantly, make them all mesh together and work on the big screen. All the pieces come together nicely to form a moving, exciting, always-moving (I never quite understand why some people consider it "slow) plot & character development.
What really makes this movie a classic, however, is that it is a human interest flick at heart. The mental & physical struggle of Chuck is at center stage here, and the acting from Hanks is impeccable as usual (he can play anything!). It speaks volumes that, within 90 minutes, you may be expressing emotion towards a man's relationship with a volleyball.
Overall, I wish more movies would be produced like Cast Away. It has a little something for everyone. Though many film fans consider Forrest Gump to be Hanks' crowning achievement, I personally enjoy this effort tenfold, as here the multiple themes actually converge to form a coherent, dramatic narrative in the end. All in all, a great film that can be watched multiple times to catch the subtle nuances and character growth.