It may seem a cute, touching point that this company man keeps the cartons intact out of duty. But Chuck is driven by relentless practicality. He eventually yields and opens all but that one package. Alas, he discovers only a Wilson volleyball. You're better off not recalling that the real Tom Hanks is married to actress Rita Wilson.
Hanks loses energy and focus.
You come to realize how much, as a player, he depends on other people. In a way, that's a measure of just how good he is on-screen most of the time. But it's also an admission that the mainstream American movie does not yet know how to express those qualities of spirit or soul that Hanks feels, vaguely, are most lacking in Chuck. There's something telling and poignant in an actor wanting a work to go deeper, yet finding that the best collaborators and the state of the medium just can't do it. The full impact of the failure dawns only after Chuck returns from the island.