Tom Hanks is CAST AWAY: Movie Review

2008-09-06 15:47:55

"Cast Away" Movie Review. 8.5/10.
By Alex DeMattia. ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.

If there ever was a monumental task put before any actor to 'carry' the film all on his/her own, it would be "Cast Away". Tom Hanks is for the most part all on his own in a film about a man who gets stranded on a deserted island after a fateful plane crash in which he barely survives. You might wonder on the surface if seeing only one actor on screen for over ninety minutes is workable but somehow Tom Hanks and the filmmakers make it work beautifully, and at the same time, give an insight in to how someone might survive if put in that situation. The film is never dull or boring, and manages to impart a few themes as well, including the human will to survive, letting everything you know in your life go in order to survive, and how certain things in life don't really matter when compared to those things that do.

"Cast Away" can be broadly split in to three parts; Chuck (Hanks) in his normal life as FedEx employee, Chuck on the island, and Chuck returning home safe and sound. What makes this film so unique is that each of these three parts are almost three different films. The tone, style and execution of each part are very different and are symbolic of where the character is at throughout the course of the film. We are introduced to Chuck through his life as a FedEx employee and his obsession with getting the mail out on time. He is a workaholic, and although he is in a loving relationship with a woman he proposes to, Kelly (Helen Hunt), whenever his job calls, he's out the door to serve; a good sequence which shows this is when he is sitting around the table having dinner with his family when in the middle of the festivities his pager goes off and he is immediately on the phone to receive his instructions. There's a feeling that they're not in control of the situation, even Kelly who has to sort out her schedule with Chuck as well. Then after one of the most terrifying plane crash sequences you'll see, we see Chuck stranded on the island. After the fast-paced visuals of the first act, the camera stays remarkable still, as everything Chuck knows is gone and his only priority is to survive. This section, which is the selling point of the film, works so well because Hanks manages to take us on his journey of survival, giving us an almost first-person perspective of the situation. What would you do? There is a conceit; the filmmakers manage to create a talking companion for Chuck out of thin-air: a Volleyball Chuck names Wilson that gets smeared with blood from his hand but mysteriously looks like a human face. Although Wilson obviously doesn't talk, Chuck spends some time talking to it, and remarkably, it works and doesn't look goofy or silly. After Chuck manages to rescue himself from the island, a clever move by the filmmakers to make Chuck his own savior rather than the arbitrary ship passing by, we see Chuck returned to his home four years later where everything is changed, but still the same in certain respects. Kelly has moved on, marrying a dentist. In a remarkable scene where Hanks meets her new husband, a lot of drama is being played out, least of which there is no malice since the situation is so extraordinary that everyone is still coming to grips with how to handle it. It's a dramatic scene with little dialogue which focuses on Chuck coming to the realisation that he's lost Kelly for a second time. Remarkably, although the film skews in the direction of a possible reunion, Chuck makes the unconventional decision to let her go, and decides to move on with his life, although we get a possible happy ending suggested in the last shot when Chuck fatefully meets up with a woman he delivers a package to that he had with him from the island.

Robert Zemeckis is on top of his game yet again, directing with a lot of directorial confidence and style, but never letting the reality of the situation become glorified or unbelievable. A lot of this comes down to making some rather unconventional choices in the story, with the two biggest ones being having Chuck save himself and making Chuck let go of Kelly rather than have your typical sugar-coated Hollywood ending. All of this leads to a film that plays quite believably, and doesn't glamorise the idea of being stranded on a deserted island. It's not a nice place, but Chuck figures out a way to survive there any way. The camerawork is fantastic, with lots of frenetic steadicam shots in the opening act, some well constructed still shots on the island when things slow done, and some graceful and elegant work in the third act as all the characters who interacted with each other in the first act come together again to figure out how to handle Chuck's return.

Tom Hanks carries this film with aplomb; it really is a tour-de-force performance which in the hands of a lesser actor would have completely destroyed the film. He knows how to command the screen in this film, and although he is assisted greatly by the filmmakers in creating believable plot devices which carry him from one point to the next, he really has the hard job of selling it all and he does it really well. This is no more evident than in his dialogue with 'Wilson'; this could have easily looked stupid but he conveys it with the right amount of care and desperation that you could imagine yourself doing the same thing to keep you sane in order to deal with such an extraordinary situation.

"Cast Away" is an engrossing, moving film that will leave you surprised that it works as well as it does.

For the complete, original DVD review, click HERE.

Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.

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