Cast Away (2000)

Dir Robert Zemeckis

Written by William Broyles Jr

Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Chris Noth, Nick Searcy.

FedEx executive Chuck Nolan (Hanks) lives his life by every minute, as to him every minute counts. On a routine flight to fix an issue overseas, his plane crashes – and he thankfully survives and lands on a small remote island. Faced with the possibility of never being found he must overcome the odds and survive no matter what, for as long as he can, to get back to his fiancée Kelly (Hunt).

Hanks holds his own, especially as he is the only person on screen for a majority of the run time, he is the primary person on screen for almost 90m. His physical transformation of the pre marooned Chuck; to the long term marooned is one of the most impressive that an actor has put themselves through for a role.

Hunt, who was in her peak popularity at the time is also very good – while her role is bookended in the film due to the screenplay, she plays her role convincingly. Her portion in the latter part of the film is quite emotional.

There are some good uses of space and weather comparison, with the wide open spaces on Texas and cold of Russia seen early in the film versus the small tropical island that Chuck finds himself on.

There is some clever foreshadowing very early on in the film too, with a quick glimpse into Chuck’s history of adventure. This is a smart way to show why Chuck is able to survive his time on the island.

There are some mildly confronting scenes – especially the plane crash scene which uses alost all diegetic sound that adds to the realism. Also some of the moments that Chuck goes through while marooned on the island are a little confronting (another tooth removal scene). It also holds the record for **spoiler** one of the most devastating deaths on screen (RIP Wilson).

The pacing I felt was maybe a little off in the third act with too much time spent in the ** spoilers again ** time after Chuck is rescued. The movie is almost 140m in length, so some of this could have been edited.

Still a good film that holds up almost 25 years later.

4/5