Rating:
7 out of 10 points on the Sidra Spiff-o-meter
Plot Synopsis:
See Tom crash. See Tom get hurt. See Tom commit mail
fraud. See Tom make fire. See Tom talk to a
volleyball. See Tom escape to civilization. See
everything Tom had before no longer be there. The End.
No, Im not kidding. The plot is awfully formulaic.
Halfway thru the movie, I could tell you what was gonna
happen at the end of the movie. Its not provocative
and frankly, I have no clue how it made it to the top
of the box office this week. The only thing I can see
that would make this movie have that sort of turnout
is the star power of Mr. Hanks. Dont get me wrong,
Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor, and he does absolutely
fabulous with the material that hes given in Cast
Away. Helen Hunt, however, acts more wooden than
Pinocchio. They only thing she managed to do
remotely well is to get into a car while crying convincingly.
Her characters reaction to Hanks characters
return is poorly written and pretty blah. The fact
that Hanks character goes around apologizing for not
being there for people while he was on the island was
very lame. He couldnt have been there; hed been
powerless. Now, hes acting like its all his fault
that his plane crashed and he ended up stranded on the
island. PLEASE! He had much more of a reason to
apologize to the volleyball.
Its not a BAD movie. The
cinematography is ABSOLUTELY breathtaking in several
places; this alone cannot save the movie from
predictability. Cast Away is one of those movies
where you pretty much know whats going to happen when
you go in there and, in that aspect, its actually quite
pleasant and reassuring. I would not recommend
rushing out to the theater and seeing it. You can
wait until it comes out on video or cable. Youre not
missing some brilliant piece of cinema.
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