Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Genre: Drama
Cert: 12
Released: 2000

Chuck Noland (Hanks) is a busy FedEx executive who continually delivers the message of the importance of time to FedEx employees around the world. Just before Christmas he is called away on business and kisses his sweetheart, Kelly (Hunt), telling her that he will be back for New Years.

But tragedy strikes as his plane goes down over the Pacific Ocean. Somehow Noland survives, washed up on a deserted island. With only the clothes he was wearing and a few Fed-Ex packages that were washed on-shore with him, he finds himself stranded, no idea where he is or if he will ever be found. For Noland, time management takes on a whole new meaning.

“Cast Away” is not an outstanding movie, but thanks to Tom Hanks mesmerising performance, it manages to fasincate and grip in equal measure. For much of the movie, Hanks acts alone, only props and facial expressions available to help him translate the storyline for the viewer. The addition of a volleyball with a painted face allows Hanks to interact and add something new to the experience. Ludicrous as it sounds, it works very well, even down to the emotional bond that Hanks builds with the rubber ball.

The movie is let down by unambitious scripting of the final twenty minutes or so and while director Zemeckis, along with Hunt and Hanks, do their best you can’t help but feeling the pay off should have been greater. However, overall it’s a movie worth seeing and appreciating.