Can a movie that spends about 80% of its runtime alone on an island with one man actually not be boring? You bet.
Cast Away (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:150
Fresh:134
Rotten:16
Average Rating:7.3/10
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
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
Reviews for Cast Away
Zemeckis does an excellent job of finding visual means to express Chuck's isolation and thought process.
Zemeckis tells his story ... with a control magnificent in what isn't shown as much as in what is.
It just so happens that Cast Away is one of the best films of the year.
A cinematic triumph, a motion picture so rich with honest emotions and ideas that it comes as a relative surprise that this is a big-budget, star vehicle.
A gung ho FedEx systems engineer stranded on a deserted island cultivates the spiritual practice of hope and learns to respect the mysteries of the present moment.
Hanks deserves a lot of credit for tackling this role, not only for the physical hardships he endured. Yes, it's Best Actor nomination (and possibly a third win) time for America's favorite thespian again.
This is a better story than the platitude that it seems to build up to in the final scene. But it was not all the film it could have been if Zemeckis would have realized where his best material lay.
Cast Away may ultimately underachieve, but the soul that Hanks brings to the role -- and the film -- must not be underrated.
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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