Cast Away
    Movie Review by Sidra Roberts

Rating:

Spiff-o-meter

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, I’m 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. It’s 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. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor, and he does absolutely fabulous with the material that he’s 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 character’s reaction to Hank’s character’s return is poorly written and pretty blah. The fact that Hank’s character goes around apologizing for not being there for people while he was on the island was very lame. He couldn’t have been there; he’d been powerless. Now, he’s acting like it’s 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.

It’s 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 what’s going to happen when you go in there and, in that aspect, it’s 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. You’re not missing some brilliant piece of cinema.


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Review Copyright © 2000 Sidra Roberts

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