Movie #62 -- Cast Away

Title: Cast Away

Director: Robert Zmeckis

Release Year: 2000

Plot Summary: Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) survives a horrific plane crash and is stranded on an island for years.

Thoughts: Everyone kept trying to tell me how wonderful Tom Hanks was in this movie and so I got around to seeing it about a year after everyone else already had. Well, Tom Hanks is quite good in this movie as Chuck Noland (get it... stranded... on a tiny speck of land... on almost NO LAND at all... crafty writers), a FedEx engineer whose life is run by time and by being on time. Ironically, he gets stuck on an island where time doesn't matter, except for the tides which become a major plot element, but I'll leave that alone for now.

Anyway, the most memorable character in this film is Wilson the Volleyball with no lines of dialogue. Strangely enough, his/her/it's mere presence on the screen is powerful enough to convey humor, anger, confusion, and loss. Helen Hunt turns in a par performance as Chuck's love interest.

Aside from a slightly ambiguous ending and it running a bit slow in places, this is a fine film. The plane crash scene is terribly memorable, powerful, frightening, and believeable to say the least. Certainly not Tom Hanks best work, but quite good nonetheless.

Rating (0-10): 7.6

Recomendations: If you liked the original version of 'The Flight of The Phoenix' you'll probably like this. 'Cast Away' is like a better version of 'The Blue Lagoon' sans Brooke Shields. It's worth picking up for $10.