Cast Away over rated

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2001)

I heard many great things about Hank's performance in this movie. When I watched it, I couldn't help but turn my head at times, not because of grotesque scenes or scenes that were too real. Instead, there were scenes of Hanks getting down on his belly and melodramatically licking water droplets. Come on! Also, the scene where he 4 years later, can harpoon a fish from 20 plus feed out. The camera pans up to him standing there..all stoic..nonesense. I realize that some of this is the directors fault, letting Hanks go too far with some of this stuff. But for the people tauting this as "Hanks for Oscar" etc. ..no way. Also, the last 3rd of the movie lagged and could have editted to half. Not a great film: too long and too many melodramatic scenes. Also, the whale scene was so fake I couldn't take it. With all the modern technology these days, that scene was pathetic. As for the product placement, I didn't find it distracting as it was part of the story, fortunately or not.