After being stuck here in Arkansas by the wonderful ice storm that was dropped on us, Brandon and I went to the movies last night to see CAST AWAY. I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for quite sometime and this movie was not at all what I expected it to be.
I can’t exactly put into words what I “was expecting” but this movie left me in awe. To be quite honest I am not a big TOM HANKS fan, but after this movie he does have more respect from me than he had in the past. The cast was a small one to say the least and in my opinion the characters were excellent.
The Main Cast:
Tom Hanks is Chuck Noland
Helen Hunt is Kelly Frears
Wilson is a Wilson volleyball
Cast Away begins around the Christmas Holidays with Chuck and his love interest Kelly. Chuck is a workaholic FedEx Systems Engineer who travels around the world to help troubleshoot problems with FedEx distribution centers. Chuck is often paged in the most inappropriate times in life, but his job calls so he has to leave Kelly behind. When he is paged there is little time to organize things and say the “good byes” but Chuck and Kelly make do. Memphis, Tennessee is the place that this couple calls home.
Chuck and Kelly were at a family Christmas gathering joking about a bet the two had made on how long it would take for family members to inquire when they were getting married if ever. At this point I do believe this is my family when it comes to my family being all nosey and concerned with my life and me. Within a few seconds of Kelly winning the bet Chuck’s pager goes off in the middle of the dinner. Could the timing have been any worse since they hadn’t even exchanged presents yet?
On the way to the FedEx distribution center they exchange presents and Chuck gives Kelly the worst gifts in the world. Kelly reassures him that she loves the gifts even though she is lying through her teeth. Kelly gave Chuck a perfect gift which was her grandfather’s. The gift was a pocket watch with her picture in it. It just so happens that the picture she placed in it was naturally his favorite. He sets the time to Memphis time but renames it "Kelly Time". He hops out of their black, Jeep Cherokee kisses her goodbye and tells her that he will be right back. She hollers that she needs the keys, so he turns around and comes back and hands over the keys along with a small wrapped jewelry box. He tells her that she can hold onto it until New Year’s Eve when he is to be back and then she can open it then, since this is not the way he had “this planned”.
Chuck gets on his charter plane as scheduled and takes a brief nap when he wakes up abruptly. After a few minutes he realizes the plane may be going down. After he straps himself in tight by his seatbelt he realizes the pocket watch is on the floor. He quickly goes after it, which wasn’t the smartest thing to do at this point. Luckily he grabs it but he can’t reach his life vest. So the other life saving devices will just have to do. The plane goes down after failed attempts to radio for help and failed attempts to keep the plane in the air.
The plane bursts into a zillion pieces along with the five-man crew that was onboard. Chuck manages to get his life boat opened and narrowingly escaped the propelling debris and fire from the crash. It is a miracle he stayed on his tiny lifeboat thru a terrible storm that was raging in the water. Lightening filled the sky as the rain poured down on him at an alarmingly fast pace. Chuck was holding on for dear life. In his mind you could tell that he didn’t think was in shock and extremely frightened. Who wouldn’t be, if in this situation?
The yellow lifeboat finally make it to land and Chuck realizes that he might actually be alive. Keep in mind this is the middle of the night in a horrible storm and he is still in shock. He yells hello and for help. He was hoping that the island in which he was now occupying was an island that was populated with people. Unfortunately his journey now begins.
Chuck is now faced with learning how to survive without everyday conveniences that he was used to. He would have to find water, food, and create a place for him to sleep. These tasks were extremely difficult for him to do and his body became bruised, bloodied, and extremely cut up by various accidents. At this point in my mind I was trying to imagine how I would survive if I were the one on this island. And in all honestly I wouldn’t have made it very long at all.
During the day Chuck noticed a few FEDEX packages that had washed up on shore. He then gathered them up and sorted them as if he was going to ship them to their destination. He didn’t open the packages until he finally got tired of eating coconuts and realized that he wasn’t going to be rescued as soon as he had hoped. He opened all the packages that have washed up on the shore but one. The most significant package was a volleyball that was enroute to a grandson from his grandpa before the crash. Chuck named the volleyball Wilson which was rather appropriate and it did get a chuckle out of the serious audience that surrounded Brandon and myself.
Chuck was scouring the island from top to bottom to make sure there was no civilization on the island and was in search of some food other than coconut. On this particular journey to the highest part of the island he looks down and sees what appears to be a body just right off the sandy beach. He rushes to the rescue to find out that it was Stan one of the pilots from his plane crash. At this point I thought I was going to get sick. The body was just totally disgusting and I have an extremely weak stomach anyway. Chuck pulled him to shore and buried him after taking his shoes since he had no shoes to wear. He created a tombstone marking his existence and his grave. Chuck also found a flashlight that worked and it helped him explore a little bit through a cave that was on the island. The batteries finally gave out after he left the flashlight on while he was in the cave and fell asleep. His favorite use for the flashlight was to open the pocket watch and look at his beautiful Kelly.
Wilson became Chuck’s lifeline, his best friend. Chuck held conversations with Wilson and it kept him sane. The two spent four long years stranded on the deserted island as strong companions.
One day while asleep he awoke to this loud clanking noise and just dismissed it at first but the noise kept on. He finally got up and went to investigate with his spear. He was quite excited once he realized the object was made in the USA. The object was two sides of a port potty from the crash. At this point his he a brainstorm and uses this new object and some of the other objects from the packages to build a raft that would withstand the enormous waves surrounding the island. He knew that if he could make it past the waves that Wilson and he would have a chance of surviving and hopefully being rescued.
The raft is built and he leaves his mark on rock engraved that he loves Kelly and that he was lost at sea for 1500 days. Wilson and Chuck set off on a voyage to hopefully succeed and make it past the waves…
Was the movie worth my time and money?
You better believe it. I will definitely be going back to see this movie again and possibly even buy it when it is released for home video.
How long is the movie?
The movie runs 143 minutes.
Was there anything I didn’t like about the movie?
I was extremely disappointed in the ending. But, if it had been any other way it would have gone against family values in some individual’s eyes.
What was the point of this movie?
Chuck was forced into a situation where he had nothing but time compared to his daily life where time was his enemy. He raced time and always had to try and beat it but rarely did. Chuck was alone by himself and forced to survive depending in him alone and no one else. This was an emotional and physical adventure that forever changed Chuck Noland’s life. Everything that had happened in the past four years had happened without him. He was assumed dead and no one had any idea he was alive.
I am not going to spoil the end of the movie, so you will just have to go to the movie theatre and watch it for yourself and you will be amazed.
Multiple Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks gives one of the towering screen performances of all time (New York Post) in this inspiring tale about surviva...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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