I thought I was stranded in a deserted movie theater and waited for four years to be rescued by the credits. (Warning: One spoiler in the 3rd paragraph)

Rating: 2/10 (31 December 2000)

I was looking forward to seeing this movie and was truly disappointed in its execution. It has so much going for it  a great premise, a fine actor and a gifted director. I thought it would be a classic man vs. environment story with Tom Hanks struggling to overcome nature with very limited survival skills and equipment. Instead, it's a sappy, very bittersweet (with little sweet) story of a man suffering to make it back to his life only to discover there is very little left of it to justify the effort. I found the vaunted surprise ending be neither surprising nor subtle  just the writer's ham-fisted attempt to find some way to end my misery.

The pacing is unbearably slow. It is only rescued (pardon the pun) by Hanks' fine performance. I did not mind the one complaint I've heard from others  the lack of music and sound effects during the island scenes. I thought it added to the feeling of desolation.
To be fair, I'm probably one of the few that hated this movie. Those who like to watch other people suffer will find plenty to enjoy, as the gore factor is unnecessarily high. The dentistry by ice skate scene is particularly gruesome.
People into tearjerkers will find this a good 2-hanky movie. I tried (very!) hard (unsuccessfully) not to laugh at the sobbing woman across the aisle at the end of the movie. Luckily, she couldn't hear me over her own applause.