Why oh why didn’t I watch this film a long time ago?! I remember all the hype surrounding this film when it hit the UK box office like it was yesterday, people criticising it before they had even seen it, wondering how the hell the makers of the film could make a film that’s entertaining and watch able with only 1 actor for the main part of the film, on his own and extremely limited dialogue. I’m sure we all know the premise of the film, even if we haven’t seen it…
…man gets stuck on island
and that’s about it. That it what this wonderful film is about. Not just that though, this film looks at the mental and physical situations that one man is put it, how it effects his life etc and how he gets use to life on and island, all by himself.
Robert Zemeckis worked hard to bring us a film that not only was entertaining, educational and interesting, but also, unique film. How many films are there out there that star one person through three quarters of the film? Now how many of those films have you watched. Hell this film even has all the scenery and doesn’t let boredom creep up on you and frighten the living daylights out of you.
Mindyou, he had some money to do it with. $90m infact. All that money and not that many actors to pay!? Anyway, the film went on to make $233m in the US Box office and £14.4m over here. It also made loads of money in Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain, and no doubt loads of other countries.
Germany had nearly 5 million people going to watched the film in the cinema! All that money is without all the video rentals and purchases. I for one will be purchasing this DVD sometime in the near future!
So, onto this film! Tom Hanks star’s as Chuck Noland, soon to be married (I think!) to his fiancé Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). Chuck works for Fed-Ex, the US version of the Royal Mail. He’s obsessed with his job and will do anything to get a parcel to it’s destination on time. You can tell he loves his job and wouldn’t be without it, unless he had too. He will even spend Christmas away from his family so that he can go and work, and this is what he doe’s.
We see him saying farewell to Kelly, with them swapping Christmas presents in the car. He gets a little clock with Kelly’s picture in it that has been passed down Kelly’s family, which he loves, he decides to always keep it on US time, so no matter where he is in the world, he’s always reminded of home and Kelly. Kelly gets towels and stuff, but then gets another present from chuck, which she’s not allowed to open…. I don’t think we ever get to see what it is, but I’m sure we can all guess by the size of the pressie itself…and off Chuck goes to board his aeroplane.
During violent storms, the plain gets into trouble and ends up going down. Chuck’s the only survivor and finds himself washed up on an island, which he soon finds out no one else inhabits. Little does he know that this is where he is going to spend the next 4-5 years. Doe’s he make it back to his wife to be? What will the world think if he doe’s suddenly turn up? Who will rescue him? You’ll have to watch it to find out!
Before I go on any further, I want to get rid of any claims that this is a boring film which drags on and comes to no conclusion. This is not. Cast Away is an excellent film which runs for over 2 hours because it need’s to. It needs this time to show you Chuck developing with his new life on the island, we need to be introduced to Wilson (yes, Wilson the friendly ball!) and see what effect Wilson has on Chuck’s life on the island, and it has a huge one, I can tell you that. This film holds a lot of character development, and we get to see Tom Hanks in a completely different light, we get to see him running his own film, being the star of the film, it’s like the Truman Show without the cameras!
Tom’s acting was superb. I thought it was good in Forest Gump, but in this film he excels himself. It must be pretty hard as an actor who has played in loads of films before, but with other actors around him and on screen to just jump into a film where on screen he has no other actors at all, and all the dialogue he speaks has to be spoken to a ball. He’s got to do all of the facial and physical expressions, the body language etc etc to get the point of the film across, no one else can aid him doing this. He’s a really good actor, one of the best, infact, probably THE best for me. I’ve loved him in every single on of his films and hopefully he will be making a few more yet. ‘BIG’ is an exception though!
As for scenery, well you have the island! This isn’t a bad thing though, we get to know the island ourselves, just like Chuck doe’s. We start to know the parts of the island and start to figure our own way around, we know that in one place he keeps all his possessions, the other place is his home and we know that in another place, there’s food. That’s the beauty of having one island and one man, we really do get to know the films surroundings.
Special Effects? Well…I spose there were a lot, but ones that don’t jump out at you. Take for instance the plane crash, ok, so it wasn’t a great special effects, but then were suddenly taken outside the aeroplane, in the middle of the sea, rain coming down hard and thunder and lightening. Then we are shown huge waves, at least 40ft coming towards Chuck and throwing him out of his little dinghy. All this had to be done in a studio I should think, a bit like Titanic, and that’s where the special effects lie, even though you may not notice and just take it for granted. They are pulled off well, and the reason you don’t notice that they have been made is because they are done so well. I should think we saw quite a bit of Tom’s body double in a few scenes though without realising!
Overall:
This was an excellent film. I loved it. I wish I had seen it earilier instead of shunning it like a lot of the UK population did. If you haven’t seen it yet, go rent a copy, buy a copy, just get hold of a copy and enjoy yourself. If you were watch it by yourself at night though, go outside afterwards and get into your car. When you feel lonely, you’ll realise how much of an impact this film has had on you. You’ll be glad to see your mate get in the car when you pick him up later!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Great opinion and a great film. I keep popping the DVD on now and again and its always worth watching. Andy.
paulc20001 11.09.2002 21:04
great review of a great film, one of Tom Hanks definitive movie moments, up there with Saving Private Ryan and The Green Mile .... you know your movies my friend....paul
TheChocolateLady 10.09.2002 12:13
I'm going to have to mark you down on this because you really must be more careful with your spelling, because it drove me batty and ruined the op for me. For instance, you write "doe's" four times in this op, and you aren't referring to something that belongs to a doe, but rather, you mean "does". In Paragraph 3 you say "That it what this... " and you mean "That iS what this...". In P4 you write "mindyou" instead of "mind you". In P7 you write "plain" where you mean "plane". In P8 you write "need's" instead of "needs". Fix these and I'll be happy to re-rate.
Cast Awayreunites star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis in their first collaboration ... more
since the heavy-handed sentimentality ofForrest Gump. Thankfully, this time their film's life-affirming message is delivered with more subtlety, attributable bot...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Discover the unforgettable journey of hope, courage and survival.Tom Hanks as Chuck ... more
Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose ruled-by-the-clock existence abruptly ends when a harrowing plane crash leaves him isolated on a remote island. As Chuck struggle...
Cast Awayreunites star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis in their first collaboration ... more
since the heavy-handed sentimentality ofForrest Gump. Thankfully, this time their film's life-affirming message is delivered with more subtlety, attributable bot...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 7 to 13 days...
Cast Awayreunites star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis in their first collaboration ... more
since the heavy-handed sentimentality ofForrest Gump. Thankfully, this time their film's life-affirming message is delivered with more subtlety, attributable bot...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: brilliant acting, great special effects, tonnes of special features, cheap Disadvantages: feels as if special effects are prioty over acting, storyline wasn't as good
![Cast Away [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/80615837.jpg "Cast Away [DVD] [2001]")
Sep 7th, 2002
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
![Cast Away (2 Disc Set) [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78548822.jpg)
