It didn't seem long

Rating: 8/10 (7 September 2002)

I was surprised to read after seeing "Cast Away" that it is almost three hours long. I didn't squirm as I usually do while watching a movie of that length.
So that speaks well for the movie. However, I didn't think it was a super wonderful movie either.
Roger Ebert complains in his review that Zemekis and company revealed too much of the plot in the trailer for "Cast Away." I concur with Ebert, although I may have come by my prior knowledge by reading reviews or talking to people who saw the movie.
The ending was a good idea with our protagonist meeting the woman who sent the FedEx package at the beginning of the movie (classic envelope pattern). But it wasn't filmed well (with Hanks standing in the middle of a dusty Texas intersection, pondering which direction to take next). I wish it had been more like the ending to "Heaven Can Wait" when the man and the woman started talking, and it was clear they were going to hook up.
I would have given "Cast Away" a rating of 6 but raised it to 7 because the movie didn't seem as long as it was.