Cast Away? Perhaps that should be Cast Out

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2001)

I'll start by admitting that Tom Hanks does nothing for me as an actor. In fact, I think his only two decent films to date are Big and Philidelphia - and that's at a stretch. I went into the film with a healthy dose of skepticism, but was fully prepared to be surprised. Oh well, one outta two ain't bad!
This is the sort of film where, if someone asked me what it was like, I respond with "the cinematography was very good". Hanks joins Robert Zemeckis for the first time since Forrest Gump (don't even get me started on that waste of film).
The story itself is one of survival (d'uh!). Chuck is a jet-setting Fed-Ex efficiency expert who jumps on a plane, and the plane decides to jump into the ocean. Chuck survives and has to eke out a living on a deserted island. That's all there is to it really. Oh, he's kept company by a picture of his girlfriend, Kelly and a volleyball named Wilson.
There were some fleeting glimpses of brilliance in the film - how Chuck overcomes adversity living on an island, cooking, fires, home dentistry etc, but nothing too extraordinary. In fact, boring in parts. I think the film could have benefited from cuts to what's happening back home while he's on the island - mind you it would have meant involvement from the other actors - which would have spoiled the "Tom Hanks alone in Cast Away" effect of the film. Oh OK, credit where credit is due, Hanks did trim down fantastically for the film, and he looks, well, not that bad! I think taut would be the word. But that's enough gushing! Fed-Ex too, must be rubbing its hands in glee with the free advertising this film has provided for them.
It's a film that I wouldn't recommend highly to people, but at the same time, it's OK and worth a trip to see it on the big screen (because I think it'll lose a bit on the TV).
Now would someone please explain to me why Tom Hanks keeps winning these damn Oscars, because I'm stumped.