The last act makes this a disappointment

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2001)

I remember the day I was going to see this film what I was thinking to myself. I was driving to wherever, and I began to wonder how Hanks was going to get rescued. It would probably be by a plane going overhead or he was going to make an attempt to sail off the island in some crude contraption of a boat and then be rescued by some ocean tanker that transports cars from Tokyo to Nova Scotia. I then began to think of what expression I would have if I was the extra in the film that had the thankless non speaking role of the guy that sees Hanks first. Would my eyes bulge from their forehead? Would I look like I had just seen a ghost? Would I just stare in awe as the tiny boat floated by and was dwarfed by the tanker that I was on? Would I be smoking a cigarette and it would just stick to my bottom lip as my mouth became agape? These are all tough choices to make for an extra with such a vital role in the film. Which one of these reactions actually happened in the film? Well if you have seen the film, you know exactly what happened and if you haven't then you'll just have to read a little further to find out. But just saffice it to say that it is issues like this one that made the film a 7 for me and not the 9.5 that it should have been. And that is a shame.
Cast Away is a very good film, it's just that it could have been one of the best if only they would have put a little more care into it. Even though the film is a good 2 and half hours, it deserved to be three. When you go to great pains to have a story of this magnitude then why can you not close the deal and make the last act just as good as the middle one?

What is good about the film is the first act and what is even better is the second one. We are introduced to Hanks as a guy that lives and dies by his watch. He is always timing everything and he is so busy that he has to schedule in his girlfriend for New Year's. It is a promise, he guarantees her that he will be home for this festive time of year. So far Hanks's character, while a little intricate and obsessive, seems like many of us. We all live by the clock in one way or another. It's just that he is a little more serious about it. But in these times that we live in, we are all bound by deadlines, we are all aware of the time and we are all a little obsessive about our jobs at one time or another. So again, we can relate to his character quite well. Of course that all changes when the plane that he is on crashes in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Hanks uses a raft to drift for days and he comes up on a deserted, almost uncharted island in the middle of nowhere. It is here that the strength of the film is presented. And this is the most amazing thing about the film. We are not only entertained with Hanks on an island by himself, but we want more. We are captivated. At least I was. The film moves slowly at times when he is here but it also captures the feeling of isolation, loneliness, despair, hope and a plethora of other feelings in between. Hanks does an incredible job of conveying these emotions inspite of the fact that he is the only thing on screen. He has no one to talk to so he finds an inanimate object and gives it life. It's name is Wilson, a volleyball that has washed up on shore that Hanks breathes life into. Wilson becomes a great character and when it is in danger at times, it frightened me and saddened me that it was. I have not experienced an array of emotions the way I did when he was on the island. And as much as I wanted to see Hanks get off the island, I was completely engulfed in his time there. When he eventually did get off, I craved for him to be back on that tiny island, with Wilson, his coconuts, his caves, his fire and all else that was there. Up until his rescue ( and you knew that was inevitable, from the trailers ), this was easily one of the five best films of the year. But what it did once he got rescued was very weak and very poor. There was so much more that they could have done. There never was that reaction shot of the guy on the ocean liner that first sees him. There was never really any reaction to him getting rescued. It just happened. I wanted to see everyone's faces and expressions when this man that has been lost for 4 years come home. But not once did we get that. And that is what I meant when I said that this films should have been 3 hours long, hell it could have been 3 and a half, that would have given us closure and maybe a little more honesty. As it stands, it is a good film, but with the combined talents of Zemekis and Hanks, it could have been so much more. And that makes it disappointing.
7 out of 10- Still a good film and a fantastic journey, but it lacked once he got off the island. However, Hanks should be nominated for best actor and if he wins, there should be no complaints. It is an incredible performance. This film is worth seeing but it also worth noting that there are quite a few better films out there so far this year.