Missed Opportunities

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2001)

DANGER!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
It is well known that Tom Hanks took 6 months off to lose the weight needed to make the "4 years later..." transition. One would think during that time, somebody could have contemplated a better resolution... "Anybody?!!". Someone wrote here before me, the lack of transition between the rescue and the return to the real world was a disappointment. I agree. There seems to be a hole in the story that is circumvented by "4 weeks later..." Those 4 weeks could have been alot more intriguing than the 3rd act we're given.

DANGER!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
For instance, I wanted to see Hanks being rescued. He wakes up to a ship and then he's on a plane "4 weeks later". It would have been alot more interesting to explore his view from nothingness-to-everything during this time. There would be press junkets and a book deal somewhere in the making. Instead, he returns to his job at Fed-Ex and we get a tacked-on ending to resolve a nowhere relationship. It would have been more satisfying for Hanks to return to the Island, possibly with the family of the Fed-Ex worker he buried. Zemeckis was overflowing with ideas for Forrest Gump. Here, it is like he runs out of gas.
Be forewarned, if you are sensitive to a fidgety audience, wait for the video. There is about an hour of near silence that can be deafening in a theater.
I can't dismiss the film as a whole. The plane crash is amazing and the central part of Hanks on the Island is the saving grace. Very thought provoking. What would you do if you just survived an impossible situation only to find that that was the easy part? Great premise, great acting, poor follow-thru. Too bad somebody didn't step forward and go the final mile.
7 out of 10