Trying to survive what challenges life throws up to each individual

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2002)

In life we all make our mistakes. Some cost us very little, and others cost us a lot. Yet it is what we do about these mistakes that makes a person who and what they are. While it was a different movie to experience, Cast Away gives the viewer an incite into what it is like to try and survive after nearly losing their life, in addition it is a chance to see what it is like to have to go back to the basics, to see what is needed to have a second chance at living a normal' life again.
Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose ruled-by-the-clock existence abruptly ends when a harrowing plane crash leaves him isolated on a remote island. As Chuck struggles to survive, he finds that his own personal journey has just begun.
Cast Away is an extraordinary movie. It goes for almost half the time with no dialogue and only one actor on our screen. Yet the whole film works. The main star is Hollywood legend Tom Hanks who plays the stranded Chuck Noland. He is brilliant, with his role showing us how talented he really is. His on-screen presence made me at times happy and others sad. It would have been very taxing role for Hanks, yet I could not imagine anyone else doing it. In fact Hanks is rather unlucky not winning the academy award for best actor for this film, as he would have been a worthy recipient of the honour.

The other main star of Cast Away and an important friend for Chuck was Wilson. Wilson was just a volleyball, yet the relationship between him and Chuck was just great. This was an ingenious part of the film and one, which I will remember for a long time to come. Another significant part of this film is the delightful Helen Hunt, who plays Chuck's girlfriend Kelly Frears. The scenes that are between Hunt and Hanks are very touching, especially at the end of the film.
Cast Away was shot in one of the beautiful parts of our world  that being Fiji. The little island that was used was just beautiful and was the perfect place to shoot this film. All the time and effort spent to set this film up would have been very taxing on all involved, yet the end result was one great movie. Director Robert Zemeckis did a great job on this film, yet it was a shame that he allowed audiences to see far too much of the film in the trailers before the film was released.
If anyone was to actually go through what the character Chuck Noland experienced and survive then it would be a real miracle, and I guess there would be stories similar to this. This film is all about being able to go on against all the odds and making it, when everything says that you shouldn't. Cast Away for me had an ending that was adequate, yet I can understand people being left unsatisfied and mystified by it, with several questions being left unanswered. If you want to be left inspired that you can achieve anything, then sit down and get cast away!
Rating: 4.5 or 9/10