Cast Away

We live and we die by time. And we must not commit the sin of losing our track on time.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Jetting off on yet another important task, FedEx whizzer Chuck Noland leaves his girlfriend Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) behind just before Christmas. Disaster strikes during the flight and the plane crashes into the ocean. Managing to free himself from the sinking jet, Noland is washed up on an uninhabited island. Without basic modern comforts and fighting solitude daily, Noland must live in hope that one day he might be saved before he loses his mind or the will to live.

Tom Hanks (Noland) re-teams with director Robert Zemeckis after their hugely successful collaboration on 1994 awards stealer, Forrest Gum...

Cast Away is a brilliant movie in many ways, but some disappointing story and character decisions keep it from being a personal favorite.

It all began on Christmas Day. Many people forget that Cast Away is technically a Christmas movie. The fateful plane crash that strands Tom Hanks on an island alone with his volleyball best friend, Wilson, takes off and leaves his new fiance alone on Christmas Day. There are some fantastic aspects to this film. Tom Hanks once again gives an Oscar-worthy performance committing himself entirely to the role that honestly carried the film. Everyone loves Tom Hanks, so stranding him on a deserted island fighting for survival gets everyone involved. The directing and setting of the film were well-crafted...

Tom Hanks excels in this well put together depiction of the archetypal, rather fastidious, business executive who finds himself stranded - after his plane crashes - on a remote tropical island. Completely ill-suited for life without any modern conveniences, but not without a brain cell or two, he has to adapt à la "Robinson Crusoe" to his new life of coconuts and whatever fish he can catch. The story takes it's time but that all contributes well to the effectiveness of his performance as he must deal with the physical, logistical and increasingly psychological challenges his predicament throws at him. Loneliness and despair fight against his human nature to thrive and to survive - and cause his creation of "Wilson", a sort of hybrid between...