Cast Away (2002) November 29, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Robert Zemeckis
The film that reunites Oscar winning duo Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis is one of narrative simplicity and emotional complexity, taking the viewer from suburban normality to desolate survival (and back again) in just under two and a half hours. And if you thought that their previous success, Forest Gump, was a piece that focussed mainly on Hanks as an actor, then you ain’t seen nothing yet. The only competitors for screen time during half of Cast Away being the beautiful Fijian scenery and a white volleyball named Wilson.
As mentioned, the story and its set-up are nice and simple. Chuck Noland works for international courier Fed-Ex and is one of their top managers. But during a routine flight out to Malaysia over Christmas, Chuck’s plane goes down somewhere over the pacific during a terrible storm. As the only survivor, Chuck washes ashore on a small island, with only a few of the surfaced Fed-ex packages as supplies. He must now learn to live a different kind of life – fending for himself and developing his survival skills. With the plane having flown so far off course during the storm, Chuck knows that there is little chance of a rescue, but he keeps a picture of his true love Kelly with him at all times, wondering if he may ever see her again.
Robert Zemeckis handles the film with the natural flair of an experienced director, not rushing the first act but allowing the story to build slowly to the point where Chuck finds himself on the island. From there the film changes tone as we are left alone with Chuck for a substantial amount of time during which we cover the predictable stages of his early survival (struggling, loneliness, and learning to cope). The cinematography is great, but aided in many ways by some fantastic natural scenery of the kind that would be hard to make look bad. There’s not much else to say about the visuals except to mention a lengthy single-shot scene towards the climax of the movie that’s very impressive if you notice that kind of thing.
The burden of holding the film together falls squarely on Tom Hanks’ shoulders and, being the world class actor he is, he handles the responsibility with little problem. There are many stages through which his character passes, from self-assured workhorse in the beginning, to hardened survivalist as his time on the island increases, and finally to the unsure, vulnerable man that he becomes. It’s the ability to make these changes believable and relatable that makes Hanks such a good actor. Although that’s not to completely downplay the efforts of Nick Searcy as Chuck’s work friend and Helen Hunt playing Chuck’s wife, who both do admirable jobs with limited screen time.
The most interesting thing about the film, however, is the way it delves deeper into the effects of its concept rather than just relying solely on the idea. So while the scenes on the island do mostly what you’d expect, it’s the film’s third act where the real interest lies, as the story chooses to buck the normal ‘disaster movie’ trend and not fade to black after Chuck attempts his island escape. It’s not something I was necessarily expecting when I started watching the film, but it’s actually the part that interested me the most. Plus the fact that the movie is titled Cast Away (two words) rather than Castaway, is probably an indication that the film is more about the changes Chuck faces than just about him being on the island.
This is a solid and interesting movie that manages to be both engrossing and very relaxed. The subtle twist of becoming more lost once you are found is handled especially well and really gives the story a unique angle with which to provoke thought. It may be a little over-long and I’m not completely convinced of Chuck’s optimistic outlook at the end of the film, but for being a well structured piece of fiction and for featuring a wonderful central performance (earning Hanks a fifth Best Actor nomination) then you could do much worse than getting lost with this flick for a couple of hours.
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