Mr Smith Gets Cast Away
 Jan 22nd, 2001
Advantages:
Awesome plane crash, nice performance from Hanks
Disadvantages:
Doesn't amount to much; nice performance from Hanks
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
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  Plissken
About me:
Wannabe writer/critic currently selling PCs - and my soul - at PC World. Spent a lot of time crashi...
Member since:13.12.2000
Reviews:116
Members who trust:39
Review rated by 9 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
The James Stewart of modern cinema is back, and this time in his clamorous bid for an Oscar, he's piling on the pounds then skinnying up as Chuck Noland, the FedEx troubleshooter stranded on a desert island. After a show-offy opening focussing on the America-Russia journey of a parcel, there's a mild surprise as we meet Noland yelling at a bunch of non-comprehending Soviet workers. Hanks getting tough! Don't panic - it'll pass. Then after a couple of dull exchanges with his wife (Helen Hunt), the audience is thrown into the most terrifying airplane crash yet. Sudden, violent and unrelenting, it will have you squirming in your seat with discomfort.
Washed up on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific, Noland soon realises his predicament: there is very little food, other than coconuts, fish and crabs, very little water, and very little chance of escape - the thunderous offshore surf means he is penned in on the island, with no chance of getting out to the open ocean. So Noland faces the daily struggle to survive, and much comedy originally stems from his uselessness at survival; crap at cracking coconuts, crap at lighting fires, crap at fishing. As time wears on, he is kept alive by the memory of his beloved wife. To keep himself sane, he talks to a volleyball with a bloody hand print on it, naming it Wilson.
Cut to four years later, and Noland is a ragged caveman type fully proficient in survival skills. When the tide washes up half a portaloo, he twigs on the idea of using it as a sail, and realises he has a chance to escape the island. This is all there is, and at times it feels a little stretched. Zemeckis handles all the set pieces with the fluidity and reassurance you'd expect - he seems fully confident in having the majority of a two hour plus movie filled with one man talking to a ball. See it on the big screen to feel the full impact of the plane crash, and to marvel at the breath taking island scenery.
Tom Hanks, as usual, does absolutely nothing wrong - but as you'd also expect, does nothing too far from his usual output. He does his comedy shouting bit; he does his teary-eyed, wobbly-headed emoting bit. But if he completes his hat trick of Oscars, it'll be the biggest travesty since Titanic won Best Picture - despite his method-ish weight loss, Hanks isn't stretching himself here at all. He's fine early on, but he's never really convincing as someone who's just spent four years fighting for life all by themselves - and his accent remains remarkably good for somebody with no-one to talk to! There are a curious lack of set pieces for a director like Zemeckis - especially after What Lies Beneath, which was virtually one set piece after another. Yet it is testament to the man's skill that a potentially ludicrous scene - a man sobbing his heart out having failed to save his volleyball from drowning - becomes almost heartbreaking!
This is a big, glossy film that feels like it should amount to more than it does. See it, but don't expect it to change your life.
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![Cast Away [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/80615837.jpg)
![Cast Away (2 Disc Set) [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78548822.jpg)
25.03.2001 21:49
I haven't seen the film yet, though I'm reading the book about Lucy irvine who actually lived on a desert island 17 years ago, it's a great read, i will be writing an op later when i've finished the book.
23.01.2001 11:36
Enjoyed your review. I thought the film would have been more effective if he had died while trying to save Wilson - but then I suppose it would have made it a terribly depressing and down-beat film. As it was we are left with the awful and corny cliche of Noland's 'cross-roads in his life' type-thing at the end as he decides which road to take. Come on...you can do better than that can't you?
22.01.2001 21:15
A thorough and helpful review. Thanks