Cast Away (1999)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Chris Noth, Vince Martin. [PG-13]

Fed Ex employee Hanks is traveling over the Pacific Ocean when his cargo plane goes down in a violent storm. He survives and washes up on a deserted island all alone, and the battle to survive and maintain sanity for the long haul begins. The beginning is hokey and the final act is a soggy auxiliary that should have been dropped from the final film, but that middle hour-and-a-half is a minor triumph, a gamble that pays off in no small part because Hanks is so believable and compelling as the antithesis to John Donne’s “no man is an island” aphorism. Without any voiceover narration or inner thoughts, Hanks grips the viewer’s attention and undergoes an astonishing physical transformation. Only falls short during this segment on psychological incentive—the script gadget of an undelivered package is such a flimsy one that it almost raises suspicions that the whole film was being financed by the “World on Time” crew. But phooey on the shipping company; thanks to Hanks and Zemeckis’ uncanny ability to instill empathy upon an inanimate object, the real promotional beneficiary here is Wilson Sporting Goods!

72/100