"Cast Away" is a film that sets up a concept efficiently and meets all of its potential, yet it still only merits three stars. Because in this work that draws so many contrasts between the comforts of home and the harshness of nature, the most notable dichotomy is between the film's powerful midsection and its flaccid ending.
"Cast Away" begins with a short bit of exposition that shows FedEx manager Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) toiling at a Russian FedEx office to ensure that FedEx packages get to their destination as quickly as possible. (Sorry about all that "FedEx." After two hours of blatant product placement, it's hard to think of much else.)
Then, predictably enough, Hanks joins his longtime girlfriend (Helen Hunt) for Christmas. But only briefly, as he's called away again to apply his intrepid skills on another FedEx mission. Hunt returns to the same neurotic "Mad About You" sitcom role that she's exploited for millions of dollars and a Best Actress Oscar.
After a horrifying plane crash, "Cast Away" becomes truly excellent. Hanks spends almost an hour uttering no dialogue, just figuring out how to complete menial tasks -- such as opening a coconut -- to stay alive.
These simple actions are surprisingly interesting. Observing the mind as it slowly makes connections has an inexplicable charm when presented properly, as it is in "Cast Away." This is why the stranded-on-a-desert-isle formula is successful. The machinations of the brain become even more of a draw when the stakes are life-and-death.
The initial island sequences were so intriguing that there was a collective groan from the audience when the words "four years later" appeared at the bottom of the picture. We would have eagerly watched the mental process continue over those four years.
Hanks does finally start to speak on the island to his companion "Wilson" the volleyball (one of the items Hanks retrieved from washed-up FedEx packages). Wilson is director Robert Zemeckis' device to let us into Hanks' psyche, which Hanks creates masterfully.
Unlike his co-star Hunt, Hanks demonstrates an impressive range of acting skills, expertly communicating his state of mind whether contemplating silently or screaming at bloodstained sporting goods. We are alternately frightened by the castaway's delirious ravings and surprised by his moments of brilliant logic, not quite knowing what to expect of a man who has spent four years without human contact.
At one point, Hanks lights a flame with ease years after having spent days trying to generate a small flicker. Hanks' expression at this moment conveys the story's themes of progress -- on an individual and societal scale -- so poignantly and economically that the credits should have rolled right then.
They do not roll, unfortunately, until we're made to sit through the film's plodding conclusion. If you've seen any TV commercials or trailers for "Cast Away," you've already had the ending ruined for you, but in case you haven't, you might want to skip to the last paragraph.
I originally faulted the screenwriter for writing a bad ending, but I couldn't think of anything that would have made it better. Then I realized that the problem was a bad beginning.
All the setup happens in the first 20 minutes of the film. The screenwriter has to present especially engaging plotlines in that time because once the protagonist becomes stranded, all we care about is whether he survives and escapes the island. When this problem is resolved -- either by the character's death or his escape -- we turn our focus back to those original (unresolved) plotlines by default.
If a screenwriter gets it right, those plotlines are at least as interesting as the survival story and keep our attention. The man who penned "Cast Away," William Broyles Jr., wrote a nice tropical island story, but the rest is tiresome and predictable. After experiencing the intensely emotional survival story, Hunt's weepy self-pity is out of place. Because Broyles didn't do his job at the beginning of the film, we're inevitably disappointed at the end.
Still, Hanks is superb, and he deserves another Best Actor nomination for this performance. This is not a perfect movie, but an extraordinarily compelling second act is redemption enough for its faults.