Cast Away (2000)

Let’s face it, the “What would you do if you were stuck on a desert island?” question is one that all of us have considered at one time or another and it is a question that has featured heavily in both literary and cinematic stories. Cast Away is yet another film that aims to portray this pertinent question on the big screen but as well as showing one mans struggles to stay alive on a desert island it also shows perhaps an equally difficult task that he faces, trying to get your old life back once you escape.
 

Tom hanks plays Chuck Noland, a man very much in love with his girlfriend who he is planning to ask to marry him. Unfortunately him though, the Fed-Ex plane that he is travelling on encounters a problem over the pacific ocean leading to it crashing with Chuck being the only survivor washed up on a desert island. With only the clothes on his back and a few washed up Fed-Ex packages, he must try to stay alive and formulate a plan to escape the island.
 

In all honesty the plot of Cast Away is not high on the originality stakes but it doesn’t need to be, a survival film such as this has always caught the attention of the cinema goer. Although the island section of the film is entertaining, it’s not particularly insightful into just how Chuck managed to survive the four years on the Island. In fact the biggest problem with the film is that it doesn’t deal with the aspect of the passing time very well, what is supposed to be four years feels like four months due to the huge chunk of time that is missing from the script. What makes it stand out from the myriad of other films of its type though is not the survival part of the film but instead the aftermath when Chuck must face the fact that his life has been changed forever and that the people he loves whose memory helped him escape that island have moved on with their lives leaving him behind. Director Robert Zemeckis handles this portion of the film excellently and it has a real emotional impact on the viewer that the desert scene failed to have. Technically cast Away is an excellent film. Tom Hanks puts in a very good performance as Chuck which was vitally important as he is the only character on screen for large portions of the film. The special effects are excellent with the place crash scene being a real standout. At 143 minutes long it’s quite a long film but luckily the pace of the film never allows boredom to set in and manages to maintain a strong entertainment value throughout.
 

Cast Away is certainly one of the better stuck on a desert island films that have been made. The island segment itself is interesting although it’s actually the weaker part of the film. The real achievement is with the final act that provides excellent dramatical scenes. Emotional at times and entertaining throughout, Cast Away is a very good film and definitely worth 2 and a half hours of your time.

8/10