Engaging Hanks-Driven Drama

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2004)

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** "Cast Away" is a concept that could not have possibly been imagined without some of the most brilliant and touching acting talent around, as the audience would otherwise be bored to tears in watching an ordinary man stranded on an island for the duration of about two hours. Luckily for us, the wise and gifted Robert Zemeckis decided to re-team from "Forrest Gump" with one of the best actors in Hollywood, to produce a film that is propelled by emotion, engagement, and enthrallment through acting. This is a simple story about a man constantly in a haste (he's a Fed-Ex manager!), who is about to get engaged to his girlfriend (Helen Hunt), yet before he proposes to her, must venture around the globe on one last delivery stop before Christmas. This is when we find Hanks stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, as his plane suffers from turbulence and is shot down from the sky, the pilots killed instantly. It is difficult to adapt to the conditions of solitude and living the life of a productive castaway, but Chuck Noland (Hanks) manages to find coconuts (albeit struggling to crack them open), catch fish, build fires, rafts, and "rescue me" flags, and apparently survives for four years on the island, living the same routine every day. His survival is stemmed from his hope, in his remembrance of his love Kelly (Hunt) (through observing a Rolex watch with her picture inside), determination (promising to deliver a lost package when he leaves the island), and companionship (he befriends a volleyball, which he appropriately names, Wilson, as "somebody" to converse with). Hanks delivers one of the most human, convincing, and heartfelt performances you will ever behold, proving here that he is just as brilliant in playing a castaway as he is a mentally-deficient savant. My complaints of the film bely in the resolution. The initially endearing premise of romance between Hanks and Hunt becomes particularly wanton and confusing, and unfortunately, amounts to virtually nothing. We understand that life has changed dramatically after four years of desolation and survival, and by the end, we would rather see Chuck Nolan back on the island, living adventures with Wilson, and making the best of life, rather than confronting an apathetic and ungrateful society who hardly cares about him after four years of estrangement. Absorbing direction, excellent acting, decent enough screenplay, weak and tarnished resolution; "Cast Away" is focused near shore, lost back on land, yet overall, a decent, engaging experience. *** out of ****