A film that falls somewhat short of its lofty goals

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2000)

My trip to my small hometown of Peterborough, Ontario included a visit to their new Galaxy Theatre. I must say I am impressed. In a city of 65,000 to see a theatre that would be at home in a major centre was quite a surprise.

On the schedule for the night was Cast Away. One of the saddest lessons I learned was that importing a high class theatre does not guarentee a high class audience. My enjoyment of the film was harmed immensely by chatty idiots all around me. To quote Max Eilerson (from the criminally short-lived Babylon 5: Crusade series) "I hate it when I go the movies with kids in the audience, because there's always someone there that tells me I can't kill them when they get loud. Now who makes up these rules anyway?"

With that out of my system I'll move on to describe the film. First will come my spoiler free review and some spoiler notes will be at the bottom. You have been warned.
Cast Away dares a great deal. Only the attachment of big names like Hanks and Zemeckis could have gotten this movie made. And, to be certain, Hanks is amazing and should be considered the Oscar frontrunner as of now. His performance is very believable and the lengths he went to for the role should be given credit by many in the Academy.
Cast Away is based on a book and, before seeing the film, I read a review speculating the film would shy away from many of the darker aspects of the storyline. It doesn't. However, there is so much story to cover here that much of it has to be told in shorthand. This is not a film that spoon feeds its audience everything they need to know. You are expected to be able to fill in a lot of gaps yourself. It's refreshing to be treated as a thinking, perceiving being for a change (though judging from the comments of idiots around me they weren't up to the task; I guess I won't recommend the film to idiots which should only serve to enhance the moviegoing experience of others) but the gaps in narrative can be jarring at times.

Still if the greatest fault of the film is that its reach exceeds its grasp that is only because it has reached very far. And a film that dares and falls short is far more satisfying to watch than a formulaic film that touches all the bases in a routine home run. I give Cast Away an 8 out of 10.