The actual experience of being on that island would be unfathomable and unbearable. To have turned it into a very watchable movie is unthinkable. And yet they've done it. Unfortunately, once Hanks is back in civilization, the movie completely bogs down with soulful soliloquies, mainly between Noland and his lost girl Kelly, who has had to move on with her life. Hell, I start to itch if the TV is off for an hour.
Hanks is a longhaired near maniac one minute.
The next he's shaved and fine, with a little insomnia and sun-bleached hair his only apparent problems, mental or physical. You could have made an entire film about his reconditioning. Or you could have just ended it when he makes his escape. Anything but this hour of padding that leeches from what is otherwise an emotional tour de force. It is certain that Hanks's name will be up in lights again come Oscar nomination time.