Instead, the plane crashes into the ocean, conveniently near a deserted tropical island with more coconuts than buried treasure. Hanks, the sole survivor of the crash, ekes out an existence on the island. After a few years of struggle, suffering, and survival, he builds a raft and risks his life taking it to the high seas, in hopes of land or rescue.
How others will see it. At 90M, Cast Away was a surprisingly expensive movie, though one suspects that a significant slice of the budget went into Tom Hanks' bank account. But he again proved his box office prowess, as the movie grossed more than 400M worldwide.
Hanks was nominated as Best Actor by BAFTA, the Oscars, and the Golden Globes, winning at the latter. Aside from his nominations, the movie came up surprisingly empty at those three most prestigious festivals.
At imdb.com, Cast Away has a huge 456K user votes, and a high user rating of 7.8 out of 10. There is a slight drop with older viewers, who perhaps find Hanks' Robinson Crusoe story (and complete emotional recovery) too much to believe. Or, perhaps I am projection my opinions into that demographic.
Actually, those who hate the movie tend to see it as a two-plus hour commercial for Fed Ex and Dr. Pepper, never mind that the former nearly kills the beloved Tom Hanks in a plane crash, and the latter presumably helps gives him the mother of all toothaches.
How I felt about it. Everyone seems to like the plane crash scene, the scariest since Alive (1993), Indeed, the scene is traumatic, and there is only one way that Hanks survives it: the story compels it. Because otherwise he would be fish food.
Are there many small uninhabitated lush tropical islands in the Atlantic Ocean? I thought that David Copperfield had purchased them all. Before his transformation into the Wild Man of Borneo, shouting at a volleyball with his bloody handprint for a face, Hanks re-enacts the history of early man, from the discovery of fire to the destruction of natural habitat, without ever getting a sunburn.
For those who enjoy horror movies, the scene to see is Hank's self-tooth extraction using a roller skate blade. I have to admit I resorted to the fast forward button on that one.
I have a different title for the movie: How I Fell in Love with a Volleyball, and Lived to Tell About It. It's hard to say what was more emotionally wrenching for Hanks, seeing his buddy's body drift ashore, or losing Wilson the Volleyball to the Atlantic Ocean. The loss of Wilson was probably worse, since at least his buddy was wearing a useful pair of shoes.
Cast Away marks the end of Helen Hunt's run as an A-list romantic lead, even though she only has a few scenes near the start and end of the movie.