Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Cast Away drifts off aimlessly

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, sometimes, an actor can be worth millions of bodies in a theater. This would be the best assumption as to what the creators of the new Robert Zemeckis directed picture were thinking when the came up with Cast Away.

First thing’s first. Tom Hanks is perfect. He has two Oscars, fifty-five Golden Globes, a couple of Pulitzers, a Nobel Peace Prize and a pant-load of gold stars from the principle. He is the epitome of acting greatness and can do no wrong. If he were a female I would want him to have all of my children. (Please, for the love of God pick up on my sarcasm). The idea with Cast Away was to expose the public to enough of Tom Hanks until the sight of him causes nausea. By the time that happens, the film is over, and we’re all supposed to be changed people. Unfortunately that’s not enough to carry a mediocre picture with potential to be so much more.

Cast Away is the story of Chuck, an overworked Federal Express employee who gets called away to work on Christmas. Something goes terribly wrong on his flight, and it crashes, and he is stranded on a desert island for four years. To make an extremely long story short, Cast Away is Chuck’s attempt to reinsert himself into the life he left before that fateful night when he took off, apparently forever.

The idea for the story is tremendous. The public is already infatuated with the idea of struggling for your life due to the immensely popular series “Survivor.” It had all of the makings of an interesting tale of difficulty, but unfortunately the story never quite decides which way it wants to go. It could be a survivor story. It could be a search for love story. It could even be a story about a man who learns that work is not the only thing to worry about in life. Perhaps it is because though those things have all been done before that Cast Away wants to be different. Instead of being different, however, it just ends up being confusing. The plot is not difficult to understand, but its underlying message, if one even exists, is vague at best. The weird ending of the film leaves the viewer even more uneasy about what it is doing.

Cast Away gets off on the right foot. It is visually stimulating, and Tom Hanks is there, being perfect, but it doesn’t go any further. If any other actor were to attempt the lead role, it would probably be an awful film. It is a dialogue-aholic’s nightmare. Hanks spends over one hour speaking to volleyball. There is a fair amount of action, but if you’re looking for conversation, then this film is certainly no Dude Where’s My Car.

Besides Hanks, there are almost no other characters that we even care about. Helen Hunt, who plays Chuck’s fiance before the flight, has a very minor role – a role that, again, if filled by anyone other than a superstar like Helen Hunt would be written off as worthless.

The film ends up being much too surreal while trying to be real. In one scene, Hanks needs to search desperately through the island to find something sharp to break a coconut, while in another scene, FedEx packages float to the surface, giving him conveniently useful products to prolong his life. Is it fantasy, or is it an attempt at reality? The film never really makes a choice.

If for nothing else, Cast Away is worth seeing just for Tom Hanks’ performance. The man has not made a bad film in a very long time, and he does not make an exception with this one. The role earned him a very well deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, and will probably get him an Oscar nod too. The rest of the film is pointless, and ultimately a disappointing product from the collaboration that brought us Forrest Gump, one of the greatest films ever.

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