Ok, what the heck was 20th Century Fox thinking when they released the trailers and descriptions for this movie? The film’s trailer, if you have seen it, ruins the film’s entire theme, structure and resolution. And if you are one of the few who missed Cast Away’s trailer, stop reading right here and head down to the technical portion of this review, or better yet, just go rent the thing.
I suppose that it is a testament to the quality of Cast Away that, even if you did see the trailer, the film still retains the power it does. The film revolves around Chuck Noland(Hanks) a Fedex troubleshooter who, as we open the film, find organizing a Russian outpost, coaching them on the importance of time. He returns home, pleased to be able to put ’’time’’ aside to spend Christmas with his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt). But, mid-dinner, he finds himself called away to Malaysia. The plane ride suddenly gets into trouble with a storm and, in one of the most terrifying sequences I’ve seen in quite a while, the plane crashes into the ocean. Chuck barely makes it out, and finds himself washed up on an island in the middle of nowhere.
And at that point, the film begins a portion that, in the hands of different artists, may not have worked. But, with Zemeckis and especially Hanks, it’s easily the best part of the movie. The film takes its time, is attentive to detail, and manages to make the most mundane of circumstances - such as the attempt to break open a coconut - impressive feats of cinematic artistry. It is a great credit to director Robert Zemeckis, star and producer Tom Hanks and especially screenwriter William Broyles, Jr., that the narration has been stretched to the limits. Even more amazing is despite almost no lines of dialogue, Hanks, Zemeckis and Broyles manage to make each and every moment on the island riveting. The middle piece of the movie is all Hanks. Little dialogue or music, and the part that I am most thankful for - no cutting to what’s going on back home to break the experience.
Hanks makes all of the small victories that the character has during his stay on the island (4 years -SPOILER!!!) that we can’t help but root for him to stay balanced and keep going. The ways that he is able to find what he needs are done in a way that is believable and fascinating to watch. He even makes the relationship with a volleyball that washes ashore (he names it ’’Wilson’’, for info: Rita Wilson is the name of Tom Hanks’s wife) from becoming silly - it even becomes rather moving. He learns how to live on the island via many mistakes and hard painful lessons. Finally he does make his journey home.
Tom dropped a ton of weight between the time they shot the scenes when he first arrived and the scenes set 4 years later (In the interim, Director Robert Zemeckis shot the exciting thriller ’’What Lies Beneath’’). He’s completely believable, and this is yet another Oscar worthy performance. He’s starting to make them look effortless which will actually probably cost him nominations much like Robert DeNiro.
The look of ’’Cast Away’’ has completely natural colors, as the intention was obviously to have a realistic depiction of what it was like on the island. There are some beautiful shots with gorgeous blue skies, but at the same time, there’s also some scenes that have an overcast look. The greens of the scenery on the island also show through wonderfully, offering natural and sometimes rich color.
The film’s sound design is a masterfully subtle effort on the part of sound designer Randy Thom. The film’s only traditionally ’’agressive’’ moment is the plane crash that strands Chuck on the island. The scene goes from rather quiet to a roar, with heavy surround use and bass. The scene is easily one of the most terrifying that I’ve seen in the past couple years, and is a jump when the situation very suddenly changes for the worse.
The island scenes do not have any score, the sounds of the island had to play the ’’score’’ during these scenes. Subtle details such as waves crashing, winds coming through the trees and other layers of realistic island sounds make a very surrounding effect around the viewer. It’s a credit to the sound team that there is such a convincing feel to the sounds - they envelop you and feel real - never overdoing it, never distracting. The island sounds and subtle details seemed clear, smooth and clean. Again, Alan Silvestri’s music does not play during the island scenes, but when it does come back into the picture in the last section, I must say it’s one of the more elegant, emotional scores I’ve heard in a while. I’m glad that the filmmakers decided to not have score during the island scenes - although it probably would never have worked, the scenes work 100% better without it and it really works wonderfully coming back in after the island scenes.
Visual effects, Oh! so you thought there are no visual effects in this type of movie, Believe me, if you know the scenes which were digitized, you would probably say, ’’Hell, they could have shot the movie right in my room!’’ Well that’s the compliment which is thoroughly deserved by Director Robert Zemekis, He is one of the guys of the quartet, who push technology to the limits and extract the most of it (The other three being, James Cameron, Steven Speilberg and George Lucas) Ok, Ok, I wont spoil by disclosing the special effects sequences, suffice it to say that the nighttime scenes on the island were shot ’’day for night’’ (i.e., filmed during the daytime and processed with heavy filters), the huge Pacific crushing waves are CGI... alright, I stop here.
Pack your bags, OOPS, sorry no luggage allowed on this film!