Surprisingly powerful

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2003)

I was not a Tom Hanks fan when I approached this movie. Probably my favorite of his projects up to this point was `Bosom Buddies,' and, yes, that includes `Saving Private Ryan.' I swore and threw stuff at my TV when he won his Oscars. What in hell were people thinking, giving this guy awards for his saccharine, watery-eyed everyman schtick? This kind of acting belonged in ibuprofen commercials.
Then I saw `Cast Away.' I was nervous at first--although the prologue contained nothing overtly vomitous, it was still way too cute for my sensitive palate. Cute, boring guy's cute, boring girlfriend thinks he works too much; he very cutely, very boringly tricks her into thinking he's not going to propose, etc. Again, to the filmmakers' credit, the cute stuff was approached with a pretty subtle hand--but it doesn't take much to make me gag.
Then the plane goes down, and the movie turns into something else: part silent film, part philosophical indie, part horror movie. The direction is really quite amazing, especially coming from Robert Zemeckis. Who knew he had it in him, to combine such beautiful cinematography with such powerful imagery (the spear-fishing transition is an incredible movie moment), all in the context of what can only be thought of as an introspective non-story? Who knew that he was so tuned in to the power of silence? Who knew that he, or anyone, could milk honest-to-God tears from a man keeping himself sane through his `friendship' with a volleyball? There were times when I couldn't believe this thing had played in mainstream theaters, it was so quiet and strange and sad. It had almost none of the usual crowd-pleasing crap, and that was beautiful.
And yes, Tom Hanks is good, very good. And I was ready for him to bomb, believe me. I may have even smiled at the idea of him marooned on an island with no food. (Where's your watering eyes now, Buffy?) But he surprised me--his performance was completely subtle, and completely believable, and completely sad. He probably should have gotten the Oscar this time.
But of course it couldn't really last, and in the final act the cuteness does creep in again. But it doesn't really matter. You can't take that middle section away from me, and in this case that's enough.
Much has been made out of the endless parade of FedEx logos, and you don't have to be a film-school graduate to notice (and laugh at) the over-the-top mise-en-scene. But who really cares about that?
All in all, the beginning and ending make my grade something of a compromise, but I definitely recommend checking this one out. 7.5 out of 10.