Rating: 
Summary: a testament to the strength of the human spirit
Review: The key to understanding (and enjoying) this film lies in understanding one's self; sound a bit too new-agey? Well, consider this: many people have let themselves forget that movies used to be more than "naked-people-in-car-chases"; they used to teach you something, make you realize something you already knew, or rekindle the hope we have in humanity. Sadly, it seems as though this movie was watched by those who have forgotten these things (and then wrote a review;) Yes, this is not a "fun, feel good" type of film, yet these are often the most important films of all; one feels as though they are actually undergoing the ordeal with Chuck Noland (Hanks), feeling the despair, loneliness and fear right there along side him; but thanks to some seriously underrated writing, we also feel his sense of renewal at the end, when he realizes that nothing happens by accident; this element of spirituality, though never directly addressed in the film is what gives it the ability to transcend the screen and reach out to all who have ever felt profound loss and solitude. Sometimes the lessons we learn in life don't come in prettily wrapped packages; watching this movie (and learning the lessons it has to offer) may not always be a comfortable, felicitous experience, but definitely worth every minute.
Rating: 
Summary: Top of his game
Review: Though this story may be tried and true, it's Hank's acting that give this film the punch that it has.Without giving it away, Hanks trials and tribulations while on the island really showcase how he's grown as an actor. Very entertaining!
Rating:
Summary: This is Gilligan's Island with a Hanks/Remeckis touch...
Review: From director,Robert Zemeckis comes Cast Away
This is Gilligan's Island with a Hanks/Remeckis touch. (Tom Hanks,Helan Hunt,Nick Searcy,Chris Noth & Wilson)
Written by William J.Broyles Jr. Chuck Noland gets stranded on a remote island,where he learns he has to survive,& keep hoping for someone to rescue him.This is a beautiful piece of film.The script isn't great,but the entire movie is great! Tom Hanks is absolutley outstanding as Chuck,with a great cast. There has been a huge amount of criticism from this film,& I am here to get rid of those bad reviews. There is very little dialogue on the island,but the visuals are excellent. Alan Silvestri,the composer,did a wonderful job on the soundtrack,fair enough he only composed 10 minutes of music. In my own opinion of viewing this movie,I thoroughly enjoyed it.It was truely an excellent piece of work. Tom Hanks & Robert Zemeckis did well on directing this movie.There were some great quotes in this movie also some hidden secrets. "Coconut milk is a natural laxative. That's something Gilligan never told us." (C.Noland *see no land*) 5 out of 5 for:
Acting & Characters-Tom Hanks-Chuck Noland Helan Hunt-Kelly Frears Music & Visual Effects (Alan Silvestri)
Writing & Directing (William J Broyles Jr. & Robert Zemeckis)
Location & Publicity-the beautiful island that Cast Away is set
Memorable Quotations & Classic Moments-The final scenes on the island
Rating: 
Summary: Boring!!!
Review: My god i am tired. Let me just close my eyes. Dam this film is still on. If you know any thing about films, do not see this film! I will say it is an interesting idea, but poo cakes are an interesting idea, but it does not work. The film is long, so very long of, well...nothing. I am able to watch most films, but I had to fastforward and get to the end, even watching the film at speed is boring. If you have trouble sleeping, get this!
Rating:
Summary: HELP! The Rosebud Package?
Review: Tom Hanks gives an outstanding Oscar calibre performance as a time-obsessed FedEx exec Cast Away on a deserted island with a Wilson soccer ball as his only company. Wilson is later involved in one of the most tragic and depressing moments on film since Bonnie Blue Butler (Rhett and Scarlett's daughter) died. One question nags this reviewer: What is the significance of that box with the butterflies? Why didn't he open it along with the others? Is this a Charles Foster Kane "Rosebud" kind of thing? Answers would be greatly appreciated. TundraVision@hotmail.com
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Summary: *sniff sniff* That was beautiful!
Review: Okay, you know a movie is great when it has you crying over the death of a ball...
This movie was a good one! It made me laugh, cry, scared to death, and everything else inbetween! ^_^ A must see for anyone who has fears of being stuck on an island... maybe. ^^
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Performance, Below Average DVD
Review: Few actors could spend an entire film on their own without boring the audience to death. Tom Hanks really pulled an all out performance in Cast Away. His co-star was a volleyball! Helen Hunt was rather weak in her role. An intense and driven Federal Express employee, who is used to having control over everything in his life, is on a plane that crashes into the ocean. He survives and washes up on an isolated island. He realizes his situations and attempts to adapt as best he can. He gradually learns with trial and error how to make fire, catch food, provide shelter, to read the winds and tides, and to survive. This is one of the oldest stories in existance performed by one of the finest actors of today. I was very disappointed with the DVD. There are no special features aside from the commentary. No behind the scenes, no interviews, not even a movie trailer. Good movie, very poor DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The keyboard Wm Golding
Review: I can't count the exact number of days that I sat here thinking, "Why would any one mail a keyboard to William Golding, the master of all Cast Away type novels, the author of Lord of the Flies and Pincher Martin?". Finally I decided to open the package and start it up. "Prints out on index cards", the box states, "Made in China". The grandpappy of all Cast Away scenarios was Gulliver's Travels, but the similarity ends shortly in the modern Cast Away. Kon Tiki was Thor Heyerdahl's search to find the specific Pacific origins of Polynesian culture. There are no Polynesians in Cast Away, but there is a raft. Blue Lagoon was a film similar to this but set in the 1800's, and the characters had someone to talk to. Gilligan's Island involved a group of Cast Away types and was successful for years, yet too amusing to believe, except for Thurston Howell the Third. In Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, a group of children grows up lost on an island, and become very primitive before mankind finds them. Pincher Martin is the movie and novel of Golding's that Cast Away resembles most. In fact Cast Away could have been a technicolor remake of that saga, but maybe Tom Hanks couldn't do the British accent required for Christopher Hadley Martin, lost sailor, in the north Atlantic, in World War Two. There are no fancy conscience wrenching flash backs in Cast Away, as in Pincher Martin, but the original plane crash should not be missed by those who love the sense that the movie screen is going to swallow you up and destroy you along with the movie's hero. The one saving grace of Cast Away not being a Golding remake is that the film states the problem of being stranded alone in the beautiful south Pacific with a low budget approach that lets the horror of Edgar Allen Poe lean into the front row and say, "You, dear audience, have room now, without all the intellectual posturing of a brain bending novel in front of you, to personally join our hapless victim of modern disaster and the failure of proficiency in transit, an airplane crash." Here you are, seeing what countless short stories and novels have used as a trite easy plot, but Cast Away isn't going to preach to you. This film is also here to say, "Even you can afford to learn what this extreme loser is learning, survive, and like it, because what you don't see here is the hell that awaits the ultimate loser, the wicked and the damned." Quote within a quote? Sure why not? There's no one else out here to talk to. Except some trees, a lost keyboard, a volleyball, myself, deep inside, where I had better keep me before I really go nuts and admit to telepathic powers that could signal travelling cannibals to the island, my kingdom, our kingdom, the land of myself, and Gulliver, and Gilligan, but he's not here, just some old spooks, and mister flashlight, and Wilson Volleyball. Don't mind the spooks, you might sense but don't see here either. There's an old pirate, a lost balloonist, a couple of navy deserters, a native in a grass skirt, really old and just standing there watching me trying to escape. "You'll escape", they're saying, "Don't photograph us. The after life contains a message out here. There is no escape ultimately. Just try to relax." I wonder how they communicate those thoughts without laughing out loud. They might not even be talking to me. I had better grab my volleyball and surf raft and get back to what modern life calls civilisation. Now that's what I call escape. Let's all do this again, until we get it right.
Rating:
Summary: Performance of the Century
Review: This wonderfully entertaining film features an acting performance unparalleled in the annals of cinema. With a bare minimum of dialog, he conveys almost superhuman agony and despair, and yet from the uncharted depths of his soul summons the will to survive. With every twist of fate we suffer along with him in his pain, and take joy in his hope. Yes, without doubt, it is Wilson who carries this film, yet inexplicably he was totally overlooked at the Oscars and Golden Globes. Clearly, it is Wilson who squeezed an excellent performance out of Mr. Hanks and was the linchpin of the entire zillion dollar production. Perhaps for future roles he will receive the recognition from his peers that he so richly deserves.
Rating: 
Summary: A Three Hour Commercial
Review: Having just watched this movie for the first time, I have to admit that it was more entertaining than I had been led to believe. It is, of course, not a unique theme (what is nowadays?) in that it the story of a modern, successful corporate cog who is suddenly and unexpectedly forced to deal with a situation that requires him to learn anew how to survive. During the course of which, he naturally is forced to reassess his own worldview as he no longer exists in an environment over which he has control. I found the symbolism in this movie to be quite significant and relevant. But overall the movie was not as profound and authentic as it could have been. In fact, even with my limited knowledge of the subject, it is quite clear that the island could not have sustained any human life over the course of four years. Interestingly enough, although license was taken in terms of the feasability of Chuch's survival on an isolated ecosystem, the producers had no problem in casting him as the employee of an actual courier company. We could well have gotten the point of this movie had they devised a superficial company, which makes the movie in essence a three hour commercial. (In regards to the previous review concerning the package. I believe that he returned it to the person who had SENT it, hence the angel-wings on the box--the symbolism of which is obvious enough.)
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