Cast Away (2000)

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writer (WGA):

William Broyles Jr. (written by)

Release Date:

22 December 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

At the edge of the world, his journey begins.

Plot:

A FedEx executive must transform himself physically and emotionally to survive a crash landing on a deserted island.

Plot Keywords:

Barefoot | Elvis | Very Little Dialogue | Burial | Christmas

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Paul Sanchez	...	Ramon
Lari White	...	Bettina Peterson
Leonid Citer	...	Fyodor
David Allen Brooks	...	Dick Peterson
Jelena Papovic	...	Beautiful Russian Woman (as Yelena Papovic)
Valentina Ananyina	...	Russian Babushka
Semion Sudarikov	...	Nicolai
Tom Hanks	...	Chuck Noland
Peter von Berg	...	Yuri (as Peter Von Berg)
Dmitri S. Boudrine	...	Lev
François Duhamel	...	French FedEx Loader
Michael Forest	...	Pilot Jack
Viveka Davis	...	Pilot Gwen
Nick Searcy	...	Stan
Jennifer Choe	...	Memphis State Student

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense action sequences and some disturbing images

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Brazil:12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-12 | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Denmark:11 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #37850)

Filming Locations:

Canadian, Texas, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

In the scene where Hanks' character builds a fire, he celebrates by setting a palm branch on fire. Upon seeing the "fireflies" that are created, Hanks quotes directly from a scene in The Right Stuff (1983) when Ed Harris' John Glenn sees similar "fireflies" from Friendship Seven.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Chuck throws the boxed volleyball with his bloodied hand after the failed attempt to create fire, the box is right-side-up; since he bends down to pick it up, this means that the fingertips should be pointing down on the ball. However, when he looks at the ball soon after, the box is upright but the fingertips are pointing upwards.

Quotes:

Kelly Frears: I always knew you were alive, I knew it. Everybody said that I had to let you go. I love you. You're the love of my life.
Chuck Noland: I love you too, Kelly. More than you'll ever know.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Family Guy: A Fish Out of Water (#3.10)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Run Rudolph Run

A Tom Hanks vehicle with Hanksisms, Hanky writing, Hanky melodrama

Tom Hanks stars as time-obsessed FedEx executive Chuck Noland who literally lives by the clock, even when spending time with his girlfriend (Helen Hunt) during the holidays. On Christmas Eve his beeper calls him to catch a last-minute FedEx flight to Malasya for official business and he waves "I'll be right back" before he boards. Then his plane crashes in the Pacific and Chuck is indefinitely marooned on a desert island, with only a volleyball as his company.

I have huge affection for 'desert island' premises and subscribe to the thinking that whatever you do with the execution, it will still be a wonderful experience. It simply cannot go wrong. It does not go wrong in 'Cast Away' either – although I would have loved to see more exploration of the lush island jungle – in fact, its island sequences are all golden. The only problem this film has is the lachrymose final act in which Hanks fades and director Zemeckis pulls up the directing chair and starts pouring in relations-melodrama to sew things together.

Everything up until this rote lukewarm point is well-crafted with patient strokes, courtesy of the film's protagonist. Tom Hanks, who put forward the idea for the film to Forrest Gump-pal Zemeckis, is in nearly every scene and carries so much dramatic weight, effortless leading man appeal and sympathy-laden charisma that he sucks you in entirely. Initially I applied some skepticism to judging his businessman character and it was not until the vivid, epileptic plane crash sequence that he started to absorb me. As the airplane was sinking into the deep blue with Chuck trapped inside (I can't imagine anything more frightening), you knew, judging by how much you were pulling for him, that he was our hero. This is man vs. nature at its best.

Upon waking up on the beach of the stormy desert island, Chuck is faced with some of the weapons mother nature has in her arsenal: you can feel the energy being slowly drained out of him during the first couple of days as he struggles to crack coconuts, find water, build shelter, make fire, catch fish and tend to his wounds. Insanity sweeps across the shore and Hanks aptly embodies the hard-edged, blood-spilled, sweat-dripping, tear-shedding transformation of a time-driven businessman to a primitive instinct-driven maroon. It is eerily crafted with an harmonic silence and sans your dutiful MacGyveresque inventions, scaffolds or nifty tools. Here is a mere man, seen through epic aerial shots and with underlying subtitles that spell out "desperation" and "loneliness", both of which Hanks assuredly and crisply exemplifies.

So then, what is really wrong with 'Cast Away'? Nothing – aside from marginal missteps – is wrong with the cast away part, it's the ending that that is not in-tune once Zemeckis wields his clear-cut, spelled-out and moralist trademarks. I refuse to spoil anything (mostly because I remember the film having been spoiled to me long before I sat down to watch it), just rest assured you will be begging to be taken back to the exciting island.

7 out of 10