a 2 1/2 hour promo for FedEx

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2001)

A survival story of an average guy stranded on a deserted island. Tom Hanks is the perfect actor to play this part and the audience is only too happy to spend an hour with him alone on an island, cracking coconuts and making fire. I was impressed with how the screenwriter avoided the cliches so common in survival stories -- for instance, when Hanks crashes at sea during a storm he doesn't simply wake up the next morning, washed ashore on the beach. Instead, during the middle of the night and the storm, he has to crawl on top of a coral reef. The story should probably have ended with Hank's rescue, because the audience's interest runs aground once he makes his way back to civilization. The resolution with Helen Hunt, his former fiancee, is overlong, fitful and unsatisfying. Worst of all, the ending where Hanks delivers the FedEx package he refused to open in his 4 years on the island was downright absurd. (Newsflash to Hanks -- there might have been food in that package!) The big winner for this movie has to be Federal Express. Next time I send a Wilson volleyball to Russia you can be sure I'll use their service.