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FILM CRITIQUE:
Tom Hanks was "cast away" as FedEx troubleshooter Chuck Noland for the first two-thirds of this movie. I was
"cast away" by the writer, William Broyles, Jr., for the final third of "Cast Away" with an ending that
was so emotionally unsatisfying as to defy logic. But more about this later.
Does "Cast Away" deserve its Oscar nomination for Best Picture? Not in my opinion. We've been there before
and better with Robinson Crusoe in a story about building something instead of just existing and coping. Ultimately, no matter
how great an acting job the star does the movie must also serve the viewer with an interesting story line and this movie does
not have the dramatic tension after the plane crash to excite much interest since the plot developments are so plainly obvious.
Even the use of "Wilson" as a conversational ploy is vastly underutilized because we still know nothing about
Chuck Noland the person and we already know too much about Chuck Noland the victim. This is another example of the poor writing
that detracts from the enjoyment of this movie.
I certainly cannot begrudge the very fine acting job that Tom Hanks has done here in "Cast Away". His nomination
for the Best Actor award by the Academy was warranted although I still am miffed that Michael Douglas was passed over for
his far more nuanced role in "Wonder Boys". Both men were equally "lost", but I would rather watch that
movie again any day than see "Cast Away" again.
Robert Zemeckis carried the movie along very well as the director, but William Broyles, Jr., as the writer ought to be
taken out to the woodshed and be forced to retake a course in "Story line 101" after being strapped with a "writer's
block" belt.
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FILM SYNOPSIS:
Chuck Noland leaves Moscow on the run after "firing up the troops" of raw Russian recruits just in time to fly
home to be with his extended family and his girlfriend, Kelly Freers (played by the ubiquitous Helen Hunt) in Memphis, Tennessee.
Barely home long enough to exchange pleasantries, the omnipresent beeper once again calls him to another emergency, this time
in Malaysia. This leaves Chuck and Kelly with barely enough time to exchange Christmas presents, including his gift to her
of an engagement ring, with his car on the Fed Ex airport tarmac and the departing FedEx jet revved up and ready for take
off.
The flight turns choppy en route as the plane is forced far off course to avoid a dangerous storm. Things turn from bad
to worse and the plane crashes out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in what has to be one of the most realistic plane crash
scenes ever filmed. This will no doubt guarantee that this film will never be shown on an overseas flight at any time in
the future.
Luckily for him, Chuck had released himself from the seat belts in order to retrieve his Christmas present of an antique
pocket watch with Kelly's picture inside that had fallen off the seat rest. This fortuitous act along with being in the bathroom
at the moment of impact allowed for him to grab the inflatable life raft which then dragged him to the surface and subsequently
to the relative safety of a tiny South Pacific island.
Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland presents a tour de force acting job during this initial phase of his adjustment to a life of
solitude on this remote and rugged island where even the prospect of survival is open to question as food other than coconuts
is not readily available. Meeting the challenges with little more than his bare wits and the utilization of the assets of
a few FedEx boxes that happened to wash up on the shore would be any actor's delight and Tom Hanks makes the most of it.
By now everyone must have heard of his turning a washed-up volleyball into his conversational friend, "Wilson",
but this dramatic touch, some would say conceit, does not detract from the story.
The Director, Robert Zemeckis, has to be credited not only with allowing long moments of silence in this movie but also
to allow these moments to develop their own tension so as to keep the movie as well as the story moving along at a brisk pace.
Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the way through the film a large sign appears on the screen reading "Four Years
Later" as if someone was unable to develop a story line to allow the audience to gather this fact for themselves through
authentic plot developments. "Cast Away" went downhill slowly but surely thereafter.
First Chuck Noland builds a raft to get him off the island during the noticed annual westerly winds that he hopes will
be strong enough to convey him safely over the wicked surf just offshore.
The logic of this eludes me as very little food seemed to be on this raft and the availability of water was a sometime
thing dependent on periodic rainstorms. How this was a safer choice than staying on the island and trying to signal for help
with large, smokey fires was not made apparent to this viewer.
Logic, however, was not something that was much in evidence during this part of the film in which it was made very clear
that it was either this risky choice or suicide. Anything seemed to be preferable to Chuck rather than a life in solitary
stranded on that gloomy volcanic rock.
Chuck arrives home to Memphis on a private FedEx jet and no one has had the courage to tell him that Kelly has not only
given him up for dead but also has long since married and now has a young daughter. Her new husband is the one that has to
break this news to Chuck. One has to ask why does he get stuck with this thankless task, especially now that Chuck is a national
hero with his face on the cover of People Magazine?
While not trying to give away too much of the obvious plot, most of which the studio has already given away with a movie
preview that covered virtually the entire story line, the movie then toys with the audience with the inevitable rendezvous
between the two forlorn lovers that leaves us sitting there in a "Will she or won't she?" mode. Of course I don't
have to tell you that nobility wins. This is, after all, a Tom Hanks movie.
But the final exasperating straw happens when our hearts now go out to Chuck just as an opportunity for romantic redemption
appears on the horizon. What in finality would you have his "pay back" be after his suffering for four solitary
years on a remote island only to find himself in an equally solitary state once he has arrived back home?
I don't want to give away the final ten minutes of the movie, but please remember that an entrance sign was altered in
a very significant way strongly suggesting that someone might be available. To linger on this visual and then go nowhere
with it cheats the moviegoing public of an emotional wrapper with which the movie could have ended in a much more satisfying
manner.
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