Cast Away (2000, PG-13)

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Grade: B+

It’s easy to sense in Cast Away that the entire film, neatly from beginning to finish, is under the control of Tom Hanks.  Hanks easily carries his part well in the movie (as expected), but what matters far more is how much solicitous profundity he is able to input into his character, Chuck Noland, so that when Chuck is the one and only survivor after a truly intense and harrowing plane crash, and must subsequently survive on a deserted little Pacific island for four years, we are easily able to follow Chuck on his journey for survival, and as a result, he’s a character that is easy to relate to and even easier to feel true (and not corny) sentimentality for. 

Cast Away is simply a work of good filmmaking, as it does not fall far short of its goals and keeps it’s optimism to a level that we can confide ourselves in.  Chuck steadily finds the keys to making human survival real, such as learning the process of making fire, and when he utilizes the contents of washed up FedEx packages for his own benefit: ice skates as a bladed weapon and a bloody volleyball named Wilson as a friend, for a couple of examples.  Soon enough, we find ourselves there, on the island, surviving with Chuck, and we also strain to hope that the fire keeps lit, the coconuts will provide enough sufficient drops of milk, and the fishing spear finds its mark in the water, just like Chuck.  True, true, Cast Away does become slow in some of these scenes (which can grow, to some extent, repetitive), but watching these things (and thinking about them) lets you, yes you, ponder about what you would do if you were in a similar life-or-death, solitary, desperate situation.

One of the more prominent criticisms that has been dealt to Cast Away is the epilogue scenes that take place after Chuck finds his way home after four years, but in my opinion, it is these scenes that give Cast Away its status as a successful, well-rounded drama.  I would even go as far as to praise the ambiguous conclusion that ends with Chuck choosing which path to take at a crossroad road.  Chuck’s life has evidently drastically changed, but the memories of his four-year ordeal on the island linger with him: he sleeps on the floor now instead of his bed, and he consumes plentiful amounts of bottled water.

Cast Away seeks to divulge the true meaning of human survival, but un-sarcastically enough, I find myself viewing Wilson as my favorite “character”.  I honestly still think that Cast Away wouldn't have been as renowned (or even as good!) if it had excluded Wilson as a “character”, and if Hanks hadn’t starred in the film or at least hadn’t firmly carried his weight; therefore, it becomes apparent that Cast Away probably wouldn’t have either been as successful or even existed if it weren’t for the Robert Zemeckis-Tom Hanks team, which started with 1993’s Forrest Gump.  Even so, Cast Away has emerged as the most insightful look into individual survival, and for its density of significant human impact, it’s a film that won’t fully speak its rather ambiguous message to you until you’ve seen it twice.  B+