Rent Cast Away on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: William Broyles Jr.
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.
Verdict
This is a great adventure, bringing to life what it would be like deserted on an island. Not only does this feel accurate, the movie does a great job of never showing or explaining too much. It provides just what we need to see, and that makes the pacing feel quicker than the run time might imply. This is a movie about how the human spirit perseveres, how it copes, and how it faces challenges. This movie doesn't need to end the story with some cute twist. Life keeps moving and so does Chuck. He survives.
Watch It.
Review
The last time I saw this movie was probably in the year after it released. It was a force in pop culture, especially the Wilson volleyball. The inspiration for the companion derived from writer Broyles stranding himself on an isolated beach for a week to create the experience of which he was writing and a volleyball washed up on the shore. As a screenwriting device the volleyball allows for dialog and exposition.
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| Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland |
Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is a process engineer for FedEx. He figures out how to ship things quicker. We get a sense of Chuck quickly, and it's clear that time and deadlines dictate his life. He has a girlfriend, but doesn't have the time to propose and plan a wedding. Even at Christmas, he's called away due to the job.
It's on this plane trip that things go awry. The plane crash sequence is wild. In an instant a calm plane ride becomes anything but. We, like Chuck, don't know what's happening. This sequence achieves its goal of creating tension and looking realistic. This is a phenomenal sequence.
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| Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland |
Fortunately Chuck's crash happened close to an island. Stranded, Chuck begins collecting the packages washing up on shore. What else would he do? This is a man focused on order, and this is the only way to have any control in this situation. Soon he displays notable ingenuity, developing rudimentary tools and even shoes. While we wonder at his chances for long term success, he manages to survive for a few days.
The entire movie plays into the often discussed desert island scenario. What would you do, and how would you survive? Most people wonder about and even debate on it. That's why this genre persists. We wonder how to survive such an ordeal. This movie does a great job of providing one method.
Cast Away is such a well done movie. It takes the time to establish Chuck as a person, and then establish his life on the island. The plot's pacing is perfect. It details his frustrations, and we completely get it. Then this jumps ahead four years. To go that long and not be rescued, how do you cope? It's clear Hanks shed weight. He added weight prior to filming and then took a year off to drop that and more. Because of that he looks like someone that has been stranded for years.
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| Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland |
Chuck relies on Wilson, a volleyball he found. That's not a surprise. Anyone would need some object to act as an anchor, a way to talk about your thoughts without talking to yourself. Wilson serves that role and it allows the movie to provides us insight without it seeming like forced exposition. A big part of this movie is the psychology. We know exactly why Wilson is important to Chuck. It helped him maintain some level of sanity. I can't imagine waiting years to escape, hoping the right piece of scrap washes up on shore. At that point Chuck has the pieces to make a raft. He's short the rope he needs, and the way this reveals the extra rope he could obtain and what it represents is just great story telling.
This concept could be an action movie, but it wouldn't have nearly the impact. This is a drama about the human spirit. It knows exactly what parts to show and not show. There were a few moments I wanted to see yet the movie skips them, and I realize I didn't need to see that. I don't need to see the boat rescue him, it's just a typical scene in many movies. The fact Chuck survived is amazing, but the adjustment to his old life isn't easy. Everyone thought he was dead and they moved on. You can't blame them, but Chuck doesn't fit into his old life.
The Chuck we see at the beginning of he movie is much different from the Chuck we see at the end. While this isn't an experience Chuck wanted, it has changed him. He's been feed in a way few people would ever get to, or want to experience. At the end of the movie, Chuck's future isn't dictated by deadlines and pagers. It's his choice as to which road he gets to take.
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