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Movies / On DVD / Cast Away
Cast Away

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Cast Away (2000)

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Reviews Counted:151

Fresh:135

Rotten:16

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: Critics say that by focusing on one man in one setting, Cast Away takes considerable risks, but ultimately it succeeds. Tom Hanks is excellent in the role, and the movie's themes make it larger than a simple physical survivor story.

Runtime: 2 hrs 23 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose personal and professional life are ruled by the clock. His fast-paced career takes him, often at a moment's notice, to far-flung locales... Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose personal and professional life are ruled by the clock. His fast-paced career takes him, often at a moment's notice, to far-flung locales -- and away from his girlfriend Kelly, played by Helen Hunt.

Chuck's manic existence abruptly ends when, after a plane crash, he becomes isolated on a remote island -- cast away into the most desolate environment imaginable. Stripped of the conveniences of everyday life, he first must meet the basic needs of survival, including water, food and shelter. Chuck, the consummate problem solver, eventually figures out how to sustain himself physically. But then what? Chuck begins his true personal journey.

After four years, fate gives Chuck a chance to fight his way back to civilization, only to find an unexpected emotional challenge greater than all the earlier physical ones. His ability to persevere and to hope are a product of his life-changing experience. Though the conclusion of Chuck's story may not be a conventional Hollywood ending, it is, like life, full of truth, pain and promise. -- © 2000 20th Century Fox [More]

Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Lari White

Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Lari White, Chris Noth, Viveka Davis, Valerie Wildman

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Screenwriter: William Broyles
Producer: Steve Starkey, Jack Rapke, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Studio: 20th Century Fox

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Cast Away

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Thoroughly absorbing.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/07/01
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Though Hanks comes across as blandly as ever, at least his solid performance shows he's up to carrying half a movie on his own, and Zemeckis' direction is at first as busily efficient as the protagonist.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For much of the time, Hanks is on screen by himself, his only dialogue addressed to an inanimate ball. A lesser performer would have made it an unendurable ordeal.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/16/01
George Perry
George Perry
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a good film; if it had stuck to its guns, it could have become a cinema classic.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
02/07/01
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

An enjoyable, moving drama in which you’ll believe a man can love a volleyball. Highly recommended.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/30/02
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

The script is insightful and unafraid to tackle very serious issues head on. And the performances are brilliant.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
02/07/01
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Cast Away has a marshmallow middle that feels empty at the core.

comment Comment
12/22/00
Bruce Newman
Bruce Newman
San Jose Mercury News

...an odd and unbalanced undertaking that pays distinctive attention to the appropriate elements but then draws back at all the wrong moments...

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
02/07/01
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

Cast Away is, in many ways, a bold, adventurous bid for Oscardom. Unfortunately, what it delivers for audiences, as opposed to Oscar voters, is a little questionable.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
12/22/00
Doug Kim
Doug Kim
Seattle Times

A heavy-handed Hymn to the Human Spirit, and a pretty joyless one at that.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment 1 Comment
12/18/00
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Hanks and Zemeckis begin with an intriguing premise...and, by the film's end, smother that premise under a tidal wave of sentimentality and schmaltz.

Full Review Source: Mixed Reviews | comment Comment
01/26/02
Gabriel Shanks
Gabriel Shanks
Mixed Reviews

Hanks fans may very well love this movie, but it does not fulfill its promise.

Full Review Source: Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine) | comment Comment
07/11/02
Gina Carbone
Gina Carbone
Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine)

A handsomely made, instructive but finally tedious blow-by-blow training film on island survival that it throws the entire venture out of balance, capsizing the enterprise and making it difficult to keep any kind of message afloat.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment 1 Comment
12/21/00
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Zemeckis is a capable director, so despite the misguided concept, the movie is anything but inept.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment 1 Comment
12/22/00
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

When I prayed to the film divinities that I wanted less Tom Hanks at the movies, I didn't just mean that I wanted him to be thinner.

Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment 6 Comments
03/19/03
Nick Davis
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks

In terms of story and pacing, the whole of Cast Away is a lot less then the sum of its parts.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment 1 Comment
12/22/00
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While Hanks' performance is masterful in this tale of survival, the movie runs out of steam, and direction, at the end.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
01/01/01
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

It's really kind of ironic. The old Chuck's life is ruled by the clock. Once he's learned better, we don't get enough time with him because the author's decided it was time to go. Oh, well.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Ron Wells
Ron Wells
Film Threat
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Latest News for Cast Away

June 22, 2005: Ridley Scott Jumps In to "Shadow Divers"
The always-busy Ridley Scott ("Kingdom of Heaven") has signed on to bring Robert Kurson's novel "Shadow Divers" to the big screen, says Variety. Mr. Scott... More...

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