CAST AWAY

REVIEWED BY BETH FEAKER

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: thematic elements, brief adultery

Rated:

He's a man with too much to do and too little time to do it in. Racing the clock is his profession, and for Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) wasting time is not just a sin--it's bad business too. The head of a very successful FedEx operation, he earns a living by letting nothing get in the way of the almighty hour, not even his longtime girlfriend, Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). Christmas is coming and the world is in a holiday rush, with Chuck frantically beside them, preparing to take a trip across the ocean to see just how quick he can actually deliver a package.

But on Christmas day, Kelly demands a little of his time. She has a gift for him, and as he leaves for the airport, he presses something into her hand too, that makes her stare after him with hope. He assures her that he'll only be gone a few days--wait for him--and walks across the threshold that will forever change the rest of his life. Mid-air, gathering storms cause the plane to sway dangerously, and suddenly the catastrophe strikes. With a gigantic boom the plane is blown to shreds and Chuck's way of life with it, and he is hurled into the raging waters, sole survivor of disaster. When the sunshine comes he is only to find himself alone on an isolated island, cast away from the world that thinks he's dead. For the next four years Chuck will struggle second-by-second against the undying battle that severs life from the forces of Nature, faced with the questions of destiny--why was he chosen to live? how can he find a way to survive?--and always clinging to the one thing that will give him the strength to fight: "Chuck Noland, escaped to sea. Going back to Kelly Frears. I love her!"

Cast Away is the kind of movie that everyone in the world watches once, but only a few die hard Hanks fans will ever care to watch again. It follows more along the lines of a Tom Hanks appreciation film, but his performance is amazingly inspired and believable. If anyone else was playing the title role we'd probably turn it off. It's not your average movie that strives to please all audiences and ends up satisfying none--Cast Away is enthralled in its own story, and for a first-time viewing, you'll be involved in it too. 

The whole mood of it is real-to-life...a little too real if you like to lose yourself in your movies...but what will turn most viewers off is that there is no background music, except in the most emotional scenes, and most annoyingly, hardly any dialogue. The producers probably saved a lot of money when hiring a scriptwriter and composer. But the emotional journey we watch Hanks' character take is totally captivating, and Cast Away's message provides thought-provoking material for a discussion group. The reason it earned a PG13 rating is for the realistic elements. In a few scenes Chuck gets hurt and bloody, he drags a very unsettling corpse out of the water, and has to knock his tooth out with a rock and ice-skate. Language is minimal, although so is dialogue. I loved Chuck's refreshing relationship with Kelly, and how both of them chose to rise above their pain and life's unfairness, and in the end, do what they knew in their heart was right. Cast Away may be somewhat boring, but it will inspire you to decide what you would do in the characters' situations, sweep you away into life on a remote island, and give you a glimmer of hope.

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