Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, but lose the FedEx pitch
Review: I'm not normally a huge Tom Hanks fan, but this movie was really good. I like realism in movies, and I thought his island predicament was much more realistic than most directors would've portrayed it as. There were no Rambo-style wild boar hunts. There was no race through the jungle from hostile headhunting natives, all the time with thundering bongo drum background music. The movie instead showed a struggle for survival that was much more akin to frustration, determination, and human behavior, not fantasy adventure. For example, Hanks doesn't just create fire instantly, it takes him several draining attempts and an injury before he creates sparks. He learns from his mistakes. He doesn't crack the coconut open on the first try. He doesn't get past the tide in his lifeboat until he's figured out the tide patterns. Other reviews call this boring, but they're missing the whole point of the movie. Life on a deserted island for four years wasn't meant to be exciting. The movie focuses around his adaptation for survival, both physically and mentally. Watch a movie like "The Beach" if you're expecting cliff jumping, bullet dodging, and knife fights with sharks. Disappointingly, an underlying theme in the movie is a FedEx commercial, showing the tireless efforts of not only Hanks, but also his Russian workers, to ensure our mail is delivered on time and not a minute later. Yes, we are to believe that lower class Russian serfs de-prioritize the nuisances of eating and living under a roof in order to pursue the much more meaningful goal of delivering mail on time for complete strangers with enough wealth to be able to afford first class priority mail service. Fast forward the first 15 minutes of this FedEx pitch until the plane crash, and enjoy the movie from thereon.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Tom Hanks Great
Review: This movie is excellent. Some may think this movie is extremely slow, but after watching it a few times it really grows on you. Tom Hanks is at the top of his game in this movie. Suggested to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Great Everything
Review: Wow, what a flick. I am picky about what movies I want to purchase, to add to my collection. Lets face it, DVD's are expensive. After seeing this one, I had to have it. What a story. I've tried to think of who else, other than Tom Hanks, could have pulled off this part...and no one comes to mind. It's hard to be a "one man show" and carry the viewers all the way through to the end. He did it with style. Right up there with Forrest Gump and Sleepless. If you are a Hanks fan...he wont disappoint you. Great movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Tom Hanks Sucks
Review: Tom's acting in this movie left a lot to be desired. I don't believe he was convincing enough as the ship wrecked sole survivour. His performance was weak and uninspiring thru out the whole movie. I found that it would have been real easy to fall asleep through this movie even the first time I watched it. Robinson Caruso On Mars was a much stronger and inspiring, even though science fiction movie. Not worth the money, and I wouldn't add it to my 500 + DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: More than a survival movie.
Review: Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a modern day Robinson Crusoe. It's far from it! Survival is only a small part of the story of Chuck Noland, who ends up on a deserted island in the Pacific after a plane crash. There's a great deal of things that make this movie a success. Notably, there are lots of special effects and some very clever filming and computer work. As a result, you really feel as if you are on the spot - on the plane as it goes down, on the raft as it bobs in the waves, on the island alone. It's the realism that's led to the PG-13 rating, and not offensive content. Admittedly there are a few items of content that are morally questionable, such as a few incidents of blasphemy, a crude sexual joke, and the contemplation of suicide. Initially Chuck and Kelly live together while unmarried, and though-out his stay on the island there's a real absence of religious faith as fatalism replaces providence (while burying a crash victim, Chuck concludes an "empty" ceremony with the words "So. That's it.") But on the whole this movie is morally inoffensive, and its PG-13 rating is mainly due to frightening scenes, such as the airplane crash and later a floating dead body, and several injuries including the scraping of skin on coral, a splinter in his hand, and the removal of a tooth. But even these scenes are more frightening because of the emotional sense of pain than graphic images. Clever manipulation of sights and sounds are used to create a real sense of fear and suspense, and even the simple dropping of coconuts on the sand becomes frightening. Hitchcock would have been proud. But even more than the special effects, it is especially the emotional conclusion combined with some stellar acting that made this movie. The survival story is framed by the story of Chuck's life in America. As a result, the movie is like a play with three Acts. Act 1 introduces us to Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), a FedEx systems engineer whose professional life is ruled by the clock. "We live and we die by time. Let us not commit the sin of turning our back on time." His personal life, including his relationship with girlfriend Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) is dominated by time, and it is exactly for this reason that Chuck ends up on the doomed plane which crashes into the Pacific in a storm. Acts 2 shows Chuck cast away on the island. The clock, as it were, has stopped. His survival experiences were based on the research and actual experiences of the screenwriter, and are depicted with a great deal of realism (Hanks made his contribution by losing a lot of weight and growing a delightful beard). The island is no utopian tropical paradise, and consequently Chuck doesn't succeed with everything right away. As he seeks to obtain the basic elements needed for human survival - food, water, shelter, fire, and companionship - there are memorable moments of triumph and tragedy, including his frustrations in getting coconut milk, his exuberance in starting a fire, and his primitive dentistry skills. There is little dialogue, but a few floating FedEx packages supply him with "Wilson" the volleyball, who becomes his companion. It's somewhat corny, but Wilson becomes a device for Chuck to express his thoughts and hold imaginary conversations. Time has stopped on the timepiece Kelly gave him, but it is her photo on the clock that inspires Chuck to stay alive. Act 3 brings Chuck back to civilization after some five years of survival on the island. His Rip Van Winkel type return from the dead in my mind is the highlight of the movie, and results in emotional and moral dilemmas of tremendous power. As his colleague says: "Tomorrow we're going to bring you back to life." But coming back to life isn't so easy when you return to a world after five years where time hasn't stopped. If surviving as a castaway on an island was difficult, Chuck discovers that it's just as difficult to be alive in the changed world to which he has returned. Back at home, he's still a castaway. Just as on the island, where "I stayed alive. I kept breathing", so now he must keep breathing, waiting to see what the tide will bring. A magnificent story-line combined with some tremendous acting from both Hanks and Hunt results in a powerful sense of loss. I was grateful that the story didn't degenerate into a feel-good type ending with an immoral tryst, but actually suggested faithfulness to the institution of marriage (a departure from Chuck and Kelly's initial live-in relationship). The ending is tough, but realistic, emotional, and powerful, and I was left thinking about it for a long long time. There is a note of hope in the end, but it is not shoved down your throat, with Chuck left at the cross-roads of decision: "Where are you headed? Well, I was just about to figure that out." If there is a criticism, it would perhaps be that we don't get to spend as much time with the changed Chuck in Act 3 as we would like - he has a new perspective on life, and we would learn something if we saw this new perspective put into practice. But for viewers whose lives are also governed by the clock, what we do see is already enough to motivate us to spend our few years on earth under the clock wisely.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, so-so commentary
Review: This is a very enjoyable movie, it's a little slow at times but rewarding if you stay with it. However, since I've started watching DVD's, I've looked forward to the DVD commentaries. This movie seems like a natural for a terrific commentary. Unfortunately, the commentary isn't all that great - it's very technically oriented and the sound and camera operators make the same points over and over again. One commentator spends several minutes listing who attended various pre-production meetings, another one goes into excruciating detail about sound looping. Too bad, because there is a lot going on in this movie that could have been discussed at greater length.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor ending...
Review: I watched on TV. Thanks God!!! After 3 hours the director gave us an open ending!!! Maybe I'm not that good criticizing movies, but this one is bad, is a slow movie, a long one, and didn't go anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Well Worth Watching
Review: Tom Hanks once again shows us that we is a great actor. Who else could actually make you enjoy watching a movie were a ball is the key supporting actor. He is so believable. If you haven't watched it you owe it to yourself to see it.
Rating:
Summary: Movie and DVD Review.
Review: Tom Hanks performed very well in the movie "Cast Away". Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a manager of FedEx, who was stranded on a deserted island by a strong thunderstorm when he was going back to Memphis for his dentist appointment. The picture and sound quality from the DVD are wonderful. The extras are also wonderful including the documentaries and featurettes. An excellent movie!
Rating:
Summary: Worth the rental or purchase
Review: Though I'm a Tom Hanks fan, I didn't see this movie in theatres nor did I rent it. Reason? The story sounded boring as all get out and the 2.5 hrs interminable. However, I very recently stumbled on it via satellite because I was bored. But what a great movie to "un-bore" oneself with! I was immediately rivetted, no doubt due to Hanks' perfect acting skills that could only bring such an otherwise difficult role to sink into come to life. In fact, I so enjoyed this flick I decided it was DVD-able, that is, it belongs in my DVD collection. So I bought it. Despite the 2.5 hr. length and the premise that it's really a one-man show, the movie moves along, a hard task for any filmmaker and certainly, for the main (and only real) character in the story.
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