Cast Away

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BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 146 WIDTH="511"><div> <IMG SRC="d955e8c0.jpg" border=0 width="94" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003CXRP/reelmoviecriticc">Buy DVD from Amazon.com</A>  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Cast Away </B>*** (PG-13)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Who knows what the tide will bring?</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Chuck Noland: Tom Hanks</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Kelly Frears: Helen Hunt</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Stan: Nick Searcy</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Jerry Lovett: Chris North</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Robert Zemeckis</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Wilson: Wilson Volleyball</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: A hot shot systems analyst from FedEx becomes stranded alone on an island for four years, after the crash of a company plane. He survives to find that his old self was "cast away" and he now must adjust to a new reality.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is engaged to Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). They live in Memphis, the hometown of FedEx. Chuck is a time efficiency expert, so dedicated to on time delivery that he once took a bike from a child so that a package would not be late. </div> <bR> <div> While Chuck is on a FedEx jumbo jet over the Pacific, it encounters very rough weather that makes the air turbulence in <I>Almost Famous</I> look mild by comparison.  They go off course trying to avoid it and the pilots lose radio contact. After a spectacular crash, seen solely from the perspective of those inside the plane, Chuck escapes in his life raft and drifts to a nearby deserted island. Although a massive search is undertaken, because the plane was off course when it pitched into the ocean, the team would have to cover half a million miles to find Chuck. He soon realizes that neither his HELP letters first drawn in the sand and then later made with logs on the beach will likely result in a rescue. </div> <bR> <div> Chuck begins his exploration of the island. Debris from the crash starts to wash </div> <div> shore… mostly FedEx packages, which contain things he can improvise with to </div> <div> survive. The body of one of the pilots, a friend, also comes ashore. As Chuck </div> <div> buries him, a  determination to remain alive is sparked. He becomes a self </div> <div> taught Eagle Scout; learning  to open coconuts for both the meat and the milk; </div> <div> making a valiant and eventually successful effort to build a fire. Having put off a </div> <div> trip to the dentist during his lay over in Memphis earlier, a painful abscess </div> <div> forms and Chuck must perform his own tooth extraction. </div> <bR> <div> Were the following not in the trailer I would not tell you, and if you have not seen </div> <div> the trailer, skip the rest of this section and go to <B>Tell Me More About It.</B> Chuck </div> <div> becomes emotionally attached to a volleyball he finds in one of the beached </div> <div> boxes and talks to it as if it were a person. He does so with such conviction that </div> <div> at times you are expecting it to answer.  When Chuck realizes that he will truly </div> <div> never be found, he decides to take control over his life, or death. That means </div> <div> leaving the island and taking his chances at sea. He makes a raft out of wood </div> <div> found on the island, with the sail being one half of a portable toilet that serves </div> <div> as cover at times and a sailing mast as well.  After many harrowing days at </div> <div> sea, and suffering from exhaustion and exposure, Chuck is spotted by a </div> <div> freighter.</div> <bR> <div> When he arrives back in Memphis, Chuck gets a hero's welcome. Rather than </div> <div> being elated with his change of fortune, he is unhappy because Kelly has </div> <div> moved on with her life, since she thought he was dead. She is now married to </div> <div> Jerry Lovett (Chris North) and has a young daughter. Chuck and Kelly must </div> <div> decide if it's possible to pick up where they left off four years ago, or because </div> <div> they both are different people now, to let go of the life they  had planned with </div> <div> each other. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: In what is without doubt the twin mothers of product placement, FedEx and Wilson stock will likely go up on December 22 when this film is released. FedEx is prominent from the first to the last scene and just about every one in between…literally. With this type of exposure, I'm sure they were able to overcome their reluctance to have one of their planes crash and lose packages of important items like ice skates, divorce papers and product videotapes (sarcasm intended). </div> <bR> <div> Another item that's beached is a Wilson volleyball, which Chuck appropriately names Wilson, just in case you miss the logo. <B>I'm not sure if </B><I><B>Cast Away</B></I><B> is a commercial within a story or a story within a commercial.</B> Fred Smith, the real life President and CEO of FedEx plays himself in the film as he hosts the welcome back party for Chuck. What I am sure of is that I don't appreciate Hollywood being so manipulative of the audience. It only increases profit for the studio while showing blatant disregard for the paying audience. You will note that the same thing was done in <I>What Women Want, </I>but with much more subtlety.  Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt are trying to win the Nike account because of their focus on women. </div> <bR> <div> I'd like for Hollywood agents to learn something this year from the overexposure of Helen Hunt in 2000. While she is in films with Hollywood leading men such as Mel Gibson, Kevin Spacey, Richard Gere and Tom Hanks, we see her so much that she telegraphs her subtle facial expressions and arm movements to the point that while she is doing nothing wrong, it detracts from the film. I like Helen Hunt…I just would like to see a little less of her. For example, the last time you saw Tom Hanks was a year ago in <I>The Green Mile.  </I>Helen probably has to make 4-5 movies to earn what Hanks does for one, however.</div> <bR> <div> Stan (Nick Searcy) is a coworker of Chuck's whose wife has cancer. Early in the film we know that Stan and Chuck will each suffer some type of relationship loss but we don't know how much. <I>Cast Away</I> deals effectively with the concepts of "letting go" and "moving on" when things you can't control drastically change your life. </div> <bR> <div> Many of us can become full of ourselves with success on the job, a big house, nice vacations or a trophy significant other. We can lose sight of the core values that allowed us to create a plan that we implemented to get those <I><B>things.</B></I> While the best things in life might not always be free, as Chuck says after his transformation, "Ice in my glass really makes my day." Sometimes we are fortunate enough to learn that little things really do mean a lot. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> PG-13(intense action sequences and some disturbing images)</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2000</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Tom Hanks: <I>The Green Mile</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Helen Hunt: <I><B>What Women Want</B></I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Nick Searcy: <I>Seven Days-TV</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Chris North: <I>Sex and the City-HBO</I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Robert Zemeckis: <I>What Lies Beneath</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="527" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="521"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="521" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>