The intangibles make the film and Hanks' performance

Rating: Null/10 (5 October 2002)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS
We are becoming increasingly hard-pressed to find a better actor in Hollywood today than Tom Hanks. Every movie of his is an event and a must-see, as was this one. When this film debuted around Christmas 2000, I wondered if this film would hold up to the Hanks tradition of late. He makes good choices of films to appear in, and doesn't half-*** anything (from Philadelphia through Forrest Gump through Saving Private Ryan through this year's Road to Perdition). This movie would not be the movie it is in my mind without Tom Hanks and his solo performance. And let's face it, that's what it is. I can't think of any other role where one actor was asked to hold for screen by himself for scene after scene after scene like he did in this film. What's remarkable about the situation is that he did it so well, and in my opinion, was robbed of the Best Actor award for 2000 by Russell Crowe's good but less demanding performance in Gladiator.
The movie begins in Russia, where Chuck Noland (Hanks) is working. He is a FedEx shipping supervisor whose life is ruled by, in a word, time. The clock is his enemy, his boss, his friend when necessary, and remains ever-present in his life. He is about to propose to his girlfriend, Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt), back home in Memphis, TN. Before New Year's, he finds out that he has to go on short notice to Malaysia, much to the displeasure of Kelly. He gives her the ring before he leaves, without much fanfare, and leaves for the plane. On the way, in a frighteningly scary and seemingly real plane crash, Chuck becomes the only survivor of an awful accident, and becomes marooned on a small, unoccupied island. There his personal odyssey begins.
At this point, the film becomes something else. It doesn't dissolve into typical Hollywood melodramatics and awful lamenting; instead, he struggles to survive through body and mind, at once staringly longingly into Kelly's face (through a small, now broken clock/family heirloom containing her picture), and at another instance using his will to find food and survive, with Kelly's face driving him. As time passes and it becomes clear that almost nobody knows this island exists, you can only imagine his man's internal musings about what life becomes, isolation, heartbreak, beauty, struggle, and so on. Being able to identify with Chuck Noland and be riveted by his predicament is to thoroughly enjoy the film; for those bored by an utter lack of dialogue for more than half the film will be disappointed, and I personally know many people who fall into the latter category. Noland's character is not the type to expound on his feelings, and at film's end, he hasn't changed drastically, but it is quite enough to feel for him, as I certainly did.
Robert Zemeckis's direction is chock-full of subtlety, and the better the film is for it, because scene after scene of over-the-top craziness, good or bad for the characters, doesn't fit the mood of the film (and Alan Silvestri's hauntingly spare score, for that matter). Themes abound throughout, such as the repetitive feelings about time and its absence on the island. Some say the ending is disappointing, but I disagree; it makes perfect sense for the film's tone.
Overall: see this for Hanks and his downright towering performance, and also intangibles of Chuck Noland's thoughts. Empathy is a huge bonus for the enjoyment of this film. 8/10