great acting, but where did the years go?

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 2001)

Cast Away is a great film for the family to see together. Except for being long, it showed the resilence of a human being trying to survive. The movie jumped from Tom Hank's arrival; then, suddenly, it was 4 years later. It might have made more sense if his years on the island were divided up into individual years. In the beginning, he was at a loss as how to survive. By the end, he knew how to use his resources. In between, it might have shown how, with each year, he acquired new skills. The crash scene was really convincing. Tom Hanks managed to inject some humor into his situation. I loved the Wilson soccer ball made into a companion. Toward the end, he showed deep despair over his loss of it. It's incredible how he managed to survive on that raft he made. He seemed like more of an urban guy than some rugged survivalist. Losing his girlfriend to another man was a sad reality, but if he survived a hostile environment for 4 years, he'd survive this too.