Cast Away (2000)
86%RT Audience Score: 84%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 2 Oscars
15 wins & 38 nominations total
Flawed but fascinating, Cast Away offers an intelligent script, some of Robert Zemeckis’ most mature directing, and a showcase performance from Tom Hanks
Cast Away” is the ultimate survival movie that will make you appreciate the little things in life, like a volleyball named Wilson. Tom Hanks delivers a powerful performance as a man stranded on a deserted island, and you’ll feel like you’re right there with him. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions that will leave you feeling both heartbroken and inspired. Plus, who knew a FedEx package could be so important? This movie is a must-watch for anyone who loves adventure, drama, and a good dose of humor.
Production Company(ies)
Bluemark Productions, C-Hundred Film Corporation, Civilian Pictures,
Distributor
DreamWorks SKG
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Monuriki, Fiji
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for intense action sequences and some disturbing images
Year of Release
2000
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:SDDS DTS Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 23m
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Language(s):English, Russian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 22, 2000 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 6, 2001
Genre(s)
Drama/Adventure
Keyword(s)
Cast Away, Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Lari White, Michael Forest, Viveka Davis, directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by William Broyles Jr., drama, adventure, PG-13, Steven Boyd, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks produced, $233.6M box office, reviewed by Nell Minow, Geoff Andrew, Peter Rainer, Steven D Greydanus, Rick Groen, Peter Travers, Robin Holabird, Danielle Solzman, Michael Kleinschrodt, Nick Rogers, Brian Orndorf, survival, deserted island, FedEx, plane crash, Wilson, volleyball, intense action sequences, disturbing images, intelligent script, mature directing, showcase performance
Worldwide gross: $429,632,142
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $745,160,764
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 165
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 81,260,716
US/Canada gross: $233,632,142
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $405,215,272
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 114
US/Canada opening weekend: $28,883,406
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $50,095,835
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 228
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $90,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $156,097,420
Production budget ranking: 207
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $84,058,460
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $505,004,884
ROI to date (est.): 210%
ROI ranking: 608
Helen Hunt – Kelly Frears
Nick Searcy – Stan
Lari White – Bettina Peterson
Michael Forest – Pilot Jack
Viveka Davis – Pilot Gwen
Steven Boyd – Producer
Jack Rapke – Producer
Steve Starkey – Producer
Robert Zemeckis – Producer, Director
William Broyles Jr. – Writer
Director(s)
Robert Zemeckis
Writer(s)
William Broyles Jr.
Producer(s)
Steven Boyd, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
15 wins & 38 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (157) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (139) | Rotten (18)
Tom Hanks’ powerful, brutal and mature story.
December 22, 2010 | Rating: 3/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
Though Hanks comes across as blandly as ever, at least his solid performance shows he’s up to carrying half a movie on his own, and Zemeckis’ direction is at first as busily efficient as the protagonist.
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Hanks’s Everyman quality has never been more aptly utilized: He’s the perfect stand-in for all of us who never made it to Eagle Scout.
September 26, 2002
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
Chuck has flashes of ingenuity that filled me with the thrill of discovery and invention, and stretches of failure that I felt just as acutely.
May 8, 2002 | Rating: A-
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films
TOP CRITIC
Cast Away isn’t the first to recognize our modern need for primal tales, but it is among the most accomplished. It plugs straight into our unplugged fantasies.
March 19, 2002 | Rating: 3.5/4
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
Hanks conducts a master class in acting by showing a man losing his sense of himself in fractional gradations.
June 4, 2001
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
Hanks earned a well-deserved best actor Oscar nomination, carrying much of the action without talking to anyone but himself for a Wilson volleyball he finds in a washed-ashore Fed-X box.
August 11, 2021
Robin Holabird
Robin Holabird
Tom Hanks is the perfect actor for the role.
December 22, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Danielle Solzman
Solzy at the Movies
“Cast Away” is an exceptionally well-crafted exploration of the survival of the human spirit. It’s a movie unafraid to consider the full complexity of life.
May 30, 2019
Michael Kleinschrodt
Times-Picayune
one-man show
May 16, 2012 | Rating: C+
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
As melancholy as it is affirming, “Cast Away” tells a darkly comic, occasionally punishing parable about what happens when humans lose sight of humility in life’s grand scheme – an interesting thematic twin to Tom Hanks’ own “Joe vs. the Volcano.”
September 25, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Nick Rogers
The Film Yap
Remains one of the more vividly transporting films I’ve come into contact with. It’s heartbreaking, darkly comedic, bravely observational, and ultimately, pure emotional poetry.
December 7, 2009 | Rating: A
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com…
Plot
Memphis-based FedEx operations executive Chuck Noland and grad student Kelly Frears have long dated and lived together, and despite each being the love of the other’s life, have not gotten married because of their respective busy schedules, especially Chuck’s as he is more often on business trips than he is at home. That marital status changes when on Christmas Day 1995 as Chuck is rushing off to catch yet another FedEx plane for a business trip, he gives Kelly a ring. That flight experiences technical difficulties, and goes down somewhere in the south Pacific. In a life raft, a relatively unharmed Chuck washes up on shore what he will learn is a deserted island, he unaware what has happened to any of his fellow flight mates, or the plane. However several of the packages on board for delivery do wash up on shore with him, those packages which he initially treats with respect. Chuck realizes that his priority is survival – which primarily means food, water, shelter and fire – and rescue. But survival is also in an emotional sense. To fulfill that emotional need, he has an heirloom pocket watch with Kelly’s photo that she gave him as a Christmas present, and eventually opening the FedEx packages, a Wilson volleyball on which he paints a face and which he names Wilson. As time progresses, Chuck goes through a range of emotions, but if rescue is ever in the cards, he realizes that he has to find a way to get off the island, which is seemingly impossible in his circumstance due to the strong on shore surf he cannot get beyond without assistance. What Chuck may not fully realize is the longer he is not rescued, the harder it will be for him to return to his old life in its entirety if he ever is rescued. Although the thought of Kelly is what largely keeps him motivated to be rescued, Kelly, who probably believes him to be dead, may have moved on emotionally from him in the intervening time.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels praises Tom Hanks’ “showcase performance” in Cast Away, where he carries much of the film without talking to anyone but himself and a volleyball named Wilson.
Robert-Zemeckis.jpg
