Cast Away (2000)

*Get the film on Amazon here*

**SPOILERS THROUGHOUT REVIEW** Yes, yes, yes, Tom Hanks lost forty pounds to play a man marooned on an island for four years. It is too bad director Robert Zemeckis did not put that much effort into making a better movie. This is one of those films that you like when the end credits roll, then wake up in the middle of the night and wonder why you suddenly think less of it. I'm skipping the plot and going right into the complaining.

Why does Zemeckis insist on using special effects for the most mundane scenes? I thought the Oscar winning effects for "Forrest Gump" were lousy. The scene I am talking about is an obvious CGI fish swimming in the water before getting speared by Hanks, who is dramatically thin after four years. Why the effect? A fake fish on string would have been more realistic. What I disliked most about this film was the missed opportunities. Where was the scene where Hanks gets on the boat and explains his appearance? His reaction to loud noises after being on a tropical island alone? His reaction to getting back on a plane after going down in a plane at the beginning of the film? His inability to drive a car after four years of not being able to? I also would have liked to see Hanks gradually get used to island life. Instead, he stumbles around like Gilligan, then we jump forward four years later where he looks like a caveman, and is an old pro at island life. Couldn't we see how he adjusts? We know he is going to be rescued, so we are left with muddled scenes regarding his reunification with love of his life Helen Hunt, who is better in this than "What Women Want." Where is the emotional reuniting of the pair, instead of the strained meeting when he goes to their house? She still has all of his stuff from the unsuccessful search, and his car, and yet he must go to her. I really did not like the ambiguous ending. Normally, ambiguous endings are the result of the film makers deciding to do something different than the Hollywood norm. Here, it just seems that no one knew how to end this. Sure, he is at a crossroads emotionally as well as physically, but the film makers try to be mysterious by leaving him there. Do not take me through two and a half hours with this guy, then leave the both of us hanging on a dirt road in Texas. Closure, darn it!

Stats:
(2000) 143 min. (* * *) out of five stars
-Directed by Robert Zemeckis
-Written by William Broyles Jr.
-Cast: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Chris Noth, Lari White, Peter von Berg, Jay Acovone, Vince Martin, Viveka Davis, Geoffrey Blake, Leonid Citer, Michael Forest
(PG-13)
*Academy Awards*
-Best Actor- Tom Hanks (lost to Russell Crowe- "Gladiator")
-Best Sound (lost to "Gladiator")
*BAFTA Award*
-Best Actor in a Leading Role- Tom Hanks (lost to Jamie Bell- "Billy Elliot")