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Cast Away is hardly the type of big-budget Hollywood film one would expect
from star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis, who first teamed up back
in 1994 for Forrest Gump. A sombre drama that actually dares to spend close
to 80 minutes almost in total silence, Cast Away shows yet again that Hanks
is an extraordinarily versatile actor, while also showing that Zemeckis
is a director capable of showing restraint when needed.
Chuck Noland (Hanks) is a man obsessed with time. As an executive for
Federal Express, he travels all over the world to whip the company's
employees into being Punctual Petes (we first meet Chuck as he yells 'We live
or we die by the clock!' to Fed Ex employees in Moscow). He also makes sure
that he is home to celebrate the holidays with the love of his life, Kelly
Frears (Helen Hunt). But, work beckons and Chuck heeds the call, promising
Kelly that he "will be right back" in time to celebrate New Year's Eve with
her.
Unfortunately, nature has other plans. While flying over the South Pacific,
the engine on the plane carrying Noland as a passenger explodes and crashes,
with only Noland surviving (this sequence is both a magnificent set piece
and terrifying as hell). He washes up on an island, one completely devoid
of
any other living thing. Here, over the course of four and a half years,
Chuck must learn to survive, not only in the most basic ways of acquiring
food and building shelter, but he also must learn how to start over again
in
a place where there are time, keeping schedules and punctuality are
nonexistent.
Almost everyone who is reading this review by now knows what happens to
Chuck thanks to a trailer and television ad campaign that gives most of
the
third act away. For those who don't, you will just have to see the film
to
find out on your own. Still, the conclusion is hardly what matters in Cast
Away. It is the middle 80 minutes where Chuck is alone on the island that
makes this movie something truly spectacular to behold. There is no music,
no cutting away to a rescue mission with tons of boats and planes, no
cutaway shots of Kelly crying back in the States.
Instead, it is Hanks, perfectly conveying Chuck's fear, anger, pain and
desperation as he does all he can to survive. Zemeckis wisely holds back
in
areas where almost any other director would have gone overboard to tell
the
viewer what to experience, instead allowing Hanks' body language and facial
expressions to make the viewer feel as if they are on the island right
alongside him. He even manages to engage us emotionally in his conversations
with a volleyball named Wilson (the ball was part of the wreckage washed
up
on shore), one that he converses with in order to keep his sanity. There
are
a lot of great actors out there besides Tom Hanks, but I'd be damned if
there is anyone who could have pulled this role off as well as he did. As
for Helen Hunt, I have not been a fan of her work of recent (What Women
Want, Pay It Forward), but for the limited screen time she has here, I think
she turned in a fine performance.
I don't believe that Cast Away will win over every person that sees it.
I
believe that those going in expecting another Forrest Gump are going to
be
in for a shock and those who like their Hollywood movies to be cut and dry
with a sappy, happily ever after ending are going to hate the film. But
for
those who want something different, something with a bit of substance and
something worth your time and money, this film is hard to beat.
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REVIEW: 
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