Cast Away

Tom Hanks. That in a nutshell, describes Cast Away. Hanks produces another virtually flawless act, his performance strengthened by the fact that he never oversteps his limits, never trying too much. His character generates sympathy not by on screen histrionics, but by careful, subdued and controlled display of emotions.

It's a good film, it is, Cast Away. The only minor drawback is the end. They've stretched it a bit too long, made it too complicated. And unnecessarily, at that too. A bad end to an otherwise good film.

Anyway I warned you. Now...

Cut to Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks). Chuck is a Federal Express executive, unhealthily obsessed with time. He's always rushing around to various places all over the world (such as Moscow), before making home just in time to share Christmas with his fiancee Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt).

But oops, his peaceful dinner is interrupted by his beeper. He's got to go to Asia now, and I mean NOW. A somewhat emotional scene follows at the airport, with Chuck promising Kelly that he'll be right back. Emotional because we all know that well, he isn't coming "right back".

Cut to inside a FedEx plane. Chuck is sitting peacefully when all of a sudden the plane starts pitching and yawing violently. It starts going down, and crashes in the ocean. The director Robert Zemeckis has used this scene well, it is a bit edge-of-your-seat type of a shot.

Chuck survives, finds a raft, and hits land. There he is, a solitary man stuck on a solitary island.

And now the real movie starts.

Tom Hanks is the only person on screen for the next one hour or so. Before going in I was afraid that the film might get a bit boring. I mean hey, I like Tom Hanks, but the only person on screen for ONE WHOLE HOUR? I had my doubts. I'm glad to say that they were however unfounded.

I loved each and every scene on the island, and was actually sad when Chuck gets saved. I mean hey, he's off the island. ;-)

Theres not much dialog for almost 2/3rds of the film, but Chuck's actions speak louder than words. You feel his fear and confusion when he cries out loud "Hello? Anybody?". You stick with him as he tries in vain to light a fire, cutting his hands in the process. You feel pity when he has to act as his own dentist, removing a painful tooth. Chuck splits coconuts, traps fishes, and makes use of several FedEx boxes that have been washed ashore. He paints a face on a football and names him "Wilson" who becomes his sole friend for the years to come.

Cut to four years later. Chuck in now thin and ragged compared to his plump state at the start (The director Zemeckis stopped shooting while Hanks lost weight). But he's a survivor now, he knows his way around.

He decides to make one last burst for freedom. He makes an impromptu raft, takes his mate Wilson along, and bids adieu to his home for four years.

He gets saved, gets picked up by a boat. Things start going downhill from here. He returns home to find out that all is not hunky-dory, people have moved on with their own lives. And then they try to show his confusion again, his confusion in trying to fit in with the real world, but unfortunately it falls flat. The end is a bit wimpy. They really could have cut out five minutes from the end. They really SHOULD have.

But anyway, its still a good film.

The thing that spoils it is the fact that I already knew he was going to be saved even before I went in the theater. As far as I'm concerned, Chucks survival should have been an open ended question. But the trailers show everything! You would have thought that somebody in the marketing department of 20th Century Fox made a massive goof-up, but no, it seems that the director Zemeckis actually wanted it this way.

Zemeckis gave an interview in which he said that he believed that "viewers don't like suspense. It's like McDonalds, everyone likes going there because you already know the menu."

I MEAN REALLY, CAST AWAY AND McDONALDS? CHRIST