Cast Away: A Quick Review

"Cast Away" is the last movie that Robert Zemeckis directed before he went crazy and became obsessed with making motion capture movies ("The Polar Express," "Beowulf," and "A Christmas Carol"). This is really a shame because before this he made some great, normal movies such as "Back to the Future, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," and a certain Academy Award winner and one of the best movies of the 1990s...or ever: "Forrest Gump." "Cast Away" was released at the end of 2000. Earlier that year Robert Zemeckis's "What Lies Beneath" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford was released. The movie was actually a pretty good supernatural thriller. The beginning was a little slow but the end was pretty intense. And Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford are just great actors to begin with. Okay, back to "Cast Away," which starred Tom Hanks, and Helen Hunt showed up at the beginning and the end. I'm assuming you all know the plot but I'll give a brief synopsis anyway: Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) works for FedEx and is dating Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). While on a plane with several other employees they fly into a storm the plane crashes into the water and Chuck ends up on an island for four years. If you are going to watch just one actor carry almost an entire movie completely on his own, it might as well be Tom Hanks. The man is just a great actor having done comedy. drama, and whatever is in between...He spends about an hour and a half of the movie on an island by himself. The result is anything but boring. Tom Hanks plays the character so well as he tries to fend for himself on the island and deals with being stranded alone for four years and "befriending" a volleyball he calls Wilson. Although he doesn't talk a whole lot, plenty happens on the island as the years pass and it is entertaining to see and it is no surprise that Tom Hanks got an Oscar nomination for his role. Helen Hunt is also great, but she is in hardly any scenes. Although the movie is pushing 2 1/2 hours, the pacing is perfect and every scene feels like there was at least a little point to it being there. Throughout the whole movie there is just a lot of great film making in general, which is what I have come to expect from Robert Zemeckis. So if you have already seen it, great - and if not then by all means rent it because it's worth the time and money...if only for a great Tom Hanks performance.

-Joseph Sbrilli