Movie of the Week: Cast Away

   

 

    Movie of the Week (4/28/13-5/4/13): What would you do if you were stranded on an island by yourself for about four years? What would it be like? Would you lose it, give up, or try to survive? Well, the great movie Cast Away depicts just those situations in a very realistic way. The film follows Chuck Noland as a FedEx executive as his plane crashes in the middle of the ocean and ends up being stranded on a deserted island. He is tested in every way possible from physically to emotionally and he even makes an unexpected friend.
    We don't really have a big cast here there is just Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt, but that is enough. Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland and he does a fantastic job. He underwent a physical change for the film twice, first gaining weight and then losing it again. Hanks pretty much acts by himself the whole movie, it really is driven by his performance because we get to see him act with items instead of people and he does a wonderful job, one of his best. Helen Hunt plays Kelly Frears as Noland's girlfriend when his plane crashes and she is left alone, then we don't see her again until near the end of the movie. So, she is not really in the film that much but she does a great job as well particularly in one scene between her and Hanks near the end in a rainy scene, a great and emotional scene.
    This movie is a great story and has a great screenplay because it shows the test of the human mind and what it can go through. It might not seem like it is much when you see it, but if you sit and think about the film after it is over it has a lot of meaning. The movie is also beautiful to look at because it was filmed with great cinematography and the scenes on the island are breathtaking. The special effects are also very good, but the only scene where they are essential is the plane crash scene and they were great.
    Director Robert Zemeckis does a great job at bringing the story all together and showing in great detail the amount of traumatic events Hanks' character goes through. He films it in such a way that it is slow it parts but never boring because of how he directed Hanks to react in each scene. There is one scene in particular that was done wonderfully and that was when Hanks is forced to say goodbye to his only friend on the island. That friend was a volleyball named "Wilson," we grow to love this character, or item, because Hanks' character grows to love it and his conversations with it are truly great and also help drive the film.
    This movie is very entertaining to watch and can be taken in many ways depending on the person. You can take it for what it is or you can dig deeper in the symbolisms that it has that some people appreciate it for, I just like to take it for what it is, a great film and story. We have a great actor in Tom Hanks playing a great character with probably one of the best character developments on film. From the minute the movie begins to the minute it ends Tom Hanks owns the screen and gives us one of his best performances. With the sound mixing, direction, writing, and the short heartwarming 24 minute musical score in only the 143 minute running time, this movie will make you laugh and make you cry all in one scene, but smile at the end.                                                           4/4 Stars.