My biggest problem with "Cast Away" happened before I even walked in to see the movie. It was the trailer. The trailer to "Cast Away" gave away a key plot point, probably the biggest spoiler in the movie. That trailer really pissed me off, and I'd be a liar if I said that it didn't ruin the movie for me at least a little bit. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the movie, though. I liked "Cast Away" a lot. It's just that I think I woulda liked it more if the trailer didn't reveal as much as it did.
Frequent visitors of my web site know that I've been looking forward to this movie for a while. Half the time I'd write my spiel in the home page, I'd mention something about how much I was looking forward to this movie. "Cast Away" was the movie I was looking most forward to watching in late 2000. The biggest reason was that it reunited one of the best actors in the world, Tom Hanks, with one of the best directors in the world, Robert Zemeckis, the same guys who did "Forrest Gump," together. "Forrest Gump" is one of my favorite movies of all-time! Of course, "Cast Away" isn't as good as "Forrest Gump," I'd be a moron to expect that. But the expectations were high, nevertheless. Was I disappointed? Sure, a little bit. When my expectations are as high as they were going into this movie, a slight disappointment is the norm. But Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis are masters of their craft, and they make damn sure that this movie is fascinating to watch, despite the fact that the trailer gives away too much.
The cast of "Cast Away" isn't very big, because 2/3 of the movie is only Tom Hanks. That's fine, though. As a matter of fact, the best parts of the movie are those 2/3, where it's just Tom Hanks. He's a two-time Oscar winner for Best Actor, and there's a reason for that. He may get nominated again for his performance in this movie. It's astounding. Watching those scenes where he's on that island alone, I was completely intrigued. The stuff before and after were okay (the plane crash was really done well, by the way), but once he's alone on that deserted island, I was mesmerized, and utterly fascinated. As for the rest of the cast, you get Helen Hunt, hot off the success of "What Women Want," and Christopher Noth, who "Law & Order" fans may recognize, but he made a bigger name for himself as "Mr. Big" in HBO's "Sex and the City."
As I'd mentioned earlier, "Cast Away" was directed by Robert Zemeckis, the man who directed "Forrest Gump." He also directed "Contact," "What Lies Beneath," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", and the "Back to the Future" trilogy. He is, quite simply, one of the best in the world at what he does. I can't wait to see his next movie, whatever it is. As for the writer, his name is William Broyles, Jr. He's one of the writers of Tim Burton's upcoming "Planet of the Apes" remake, he was one of the writers of "Entrapment," and he was one of the writers of "Apollo 13." It was a good script, especially the stuff on the island.
I was expecting
greatness in "Cast Away," but I didn't get it. I got a really
good movie that was kinda ruined for me by the way-too-revealing trailer.
There ARE moments of greatness in "Cast Away," just not enough
to make the whole movie great. There should have been more time spent with
Tom Hanks on the island. I'm sure some may consider that to be the boring
stuff, but I loved every moment of it. There should have been more time
spent on those scenes and less on the others.
Scale of 1-10: 8