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Quote of the day:
"There is a large element of me in every role I do. Actors who say they can dive inside a character are either schizophrenic or lying." -- Bruce Campbell |
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 Review: Cast Away
By SKillBot on December 25, 2000 9:22 PM
Cast Away (featuring Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland, Helen Hunt as Kelly Frears, and introducing Wilson the volleyball as itself) is the story of Federal Express' commitment to quality and the zany adventures of one volleyball with a madman deserted on a South Pacific island. Although many families expect a touching Christmas movie, they may be somewhat disappointed by a more tragic tale of one man's struggle for survival.
One very different aspect of this movie is the lack of character development (with the exception of the main character). It's very direct in laying out the background and then jumping into the theme of the movie. I rather enjoyed this as it left many of the characters open to the viewer's imagination, allowing better association with the main character and giving you something to think about as the theme was illustrated.
More than just some wilderness survival movie, this shows a very tight contrast of how time is spent through a character that lives by the clock, then ends up alone with nothing but free time. I know that many people found this to be pretty boring (I heard some snores in the theatre), but it's an excellent showcase of how important time really is. Ironically enough, he starts out being obsessive about minutes to meet delivery schedules in the beginning, then cares about getting something done in time to meet a particular season in the end. "Let us not commit the sin of turning our backs on time."
The ending is nice as it ties everything together and leaves the future of the story open to interpretation. And it does that while filling in some details of a huge chunk of time on the island that was completely passed over.
The cinematography was good, although nothing revolutionary. My only complaint would be the lack of a good title sequence and the overly dramatic sounds made by the waves as he went through them. The fact that it really was one big FedEx ad should probably bother me, but it doesn't since it worked into the story so well.
It's one of those movies that has everything (action, adventure, sap, etc.), and it's a pretty nice story. Although it didn't especially turn me on, I would still have to reccommend it.
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Reader Discussions:
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RE: Review: Cast Away
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Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on December 26, 2000 11:53 PM
I have to agree and disagree with points that you make about this film.
We go to movies for entertainment. I think that most people do. If it's a good story, or more importantly, an entertaining story and it's somehow complimented by great acting, special effects, cinematogaraphy or even better, all of the above, then that's a big plus. Reviewers often find merit in "one" attribute or another and forget why people shell out big bucks for movies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that people should all be drawn to mindless Police Academy type dribble, but I do think that directors get carried away in the boring aspects of their films at times. Things that we really don't care about, or that don't matter, or that don't develop the characters.
With all of that being said, back to this movie. I love Tom Hanks and while I think this was another of his many outstanding performances, I hate to admit that it still wasn't enough to salvage this movie. Yes, there were some important messages that one could learn (if that's why you go to movies).
The summary is that they were way off target on this one. Very little entertainment value, lots of serious errors in the story as well. Just to name a few...
Birthday card at Christmas, why, why not a Christmas card? Skates and other packages with not so much as a letter, card, packing slip or anything else? Island that size with coconuts and very few trees. Where did the constant supply of trees come frome after he started burning? Where did all of the ripe coconuts come from, I thought they took some time to ripen?
Also: It wasn't just FED EX that was advertised. Don't forget Wilson Sports. I wonder how much these two kicked in on this movie? I was so ready to escape from the theatre, I didn't wait until the end titles to see their names.
On a scale of 1-10, this movie would get a strong 2 from me for entertainment value.
Summary: Reviewers need to start taking a more realistic look at why people go to movies. We go to feel good, to be entertained. This movie left you with an empty feeling, an unsure feeling and lots of unanswered questions.
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Posted by sKillBot (travis@pulley.org) on December 27, 2000 12:15 AM
Thanks for the metareview, I'll keep it in mind for next time. You're right, it wasn't that entertaining and the realism factors you noted bugged me as well. (How convenient! Ice skates! Just when I thought he was screwed without a knife and some string) The product placement in this movie was horrendous. I almost smacked my forehead when the freezer door opened and sat in front of the camera with all the family photos covering the whole thing, except for the impeneterable field around the kitchen-aid logo. Oh, and what's the first thing you want after being stranded on an island for four years? That's right, a Dr. Pepper.
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Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on January 5, 2001 6:53 PM
You obviously don't drink Dr Pepper ... ;)
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RE: RE: Review: Cast Away
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Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on January 4, 2001 4:29 AM
I concur. The moive left me wanting. Character development is important to the outcome of the film. It wouldn't hurt to spent a little more time on the other characters in the film. And even the main character played by Tom Hanks.
And the ending, please - the one package he didn't open was to a woman he could be interested in!
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RE: Review: Cast Away
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Posted by Acheron (denny@dtheatre.com) on December 27, 2000 10:40 AM
corporations are finding themselves more and more in movies. Sure we always had product placement. Remember Reeses Pieces in E.T.? But now with the whole FedEx thing, it's getting ridiculous. The same way it's ridiculous that all these professional sports teams are scrapping their perfectly good stadiums because 3Com wants to build them a new one with their name on it.
I can see the next movie being about an employee at Cisco that pissed someone crazy off that found a way to take down all Cisco routers around the world, or a movie about a Microsoft scandal that has people forever under the grasp of their power because of their software(oh wait that's already happened), or something stupid like that...
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RE: Review: Cast Away
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Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on February 25, 2002 3:46 PM
They should make a film about "Wilson". After all who gives a rats arse about Tom Hanks' character at the end. More people are wondering what the hell happened to Wilson! Did he perish in the Big Blue Sea or did he make it to a small island where they treat him like a God and chant "Wilson... Wilson... Wilson" 24-7? I say this cos "We want the ball back!"
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