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Cast Away
Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring Chris Noth, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Tom Hanks
Drama
132 min
Rated PG-13
color
When did Tom Hanks become the male equivalent of the Meryl Streep
joke?
After back-to-back Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, and
because he's regarded in Hollywood as such a nice guy, it has become
almost a joke to say, "OK, what's Hanks going to be nominated
for this year?" Apollo 13? Saving Private Ryan? Heck, even
his voice work in the Toy Story movies didn't seem out of the question
for an Oscar nomination.
But one of the reasons Hanks gets talked up for awards every time
he makes a movie, the reason we often forget, is that he really
is that good. In Cast Away, Hanks gives possibly the most compelling
performance of his career -- and he probably won't get all the credit
for it he deserves.
Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a FedEx executive who absolutely, positively
has to run his life by the clock. "Time rules over us without
mercy," he tells employees during a rush job in Moscow. His
Day Planner rules over his job, his vacations, even coordinating
time to spend with his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt) -- with whom
he parts one Christmas night when he has to ride along on a cargo
flight over the Pacific.
Then the plane crashes in the ocean and Chuck, the lone survivor,
washes ashore on a deserted island. Alone with his wits, a lot of
coconuts and the occasional FedEx package that drifts in, Chuck
figures out how to survive -- both in body and mind -- as he realizes
he may be in this for the long haul.
Hanks reveals Chuck's mental plight with a minimum of dialogue
(he doesn't start talking to himself until late in the story) and
an economy of body language. Director Robert Zemeckis (who teamed
with Hanks in Forrest Gump) gets to indulge in his love for digital
effects -- the plane crash is a nail-biter sure to keep the movie
off any "in-flight" lists -- but his greatest service
is in his restraint, in letting Hanks' small moments speak for themselves.
Whatever you think Cast Away is about (which may be a lot, if
you have seen 20th Century Fox's spoiler-laden advertising), it's
about much more than that. Though he travels many miles, it's Chuck's
emotional journey -- as his inside chronometer resets from seconds
to days -- that makes Cast Away worth the trip.
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