All Critics (157)
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Top Critics (35)
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Fresh (144)
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DVD (33)
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.
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.
Hanks conducts a master class in acting by showing a man losing his sense of himself in fractional gradations.
The scenes of Hanks' complete isolation on the island, where barely a sound is heard for minutes at a time, are the best thing about Cast Away.
Cast Away amounts to little more than an unprecedented showcase for its star.
Dig deep and you'll find a film that's even richer than what its handsome surface seems to reveal.
Tom Hanks' powerful, brutal and mature story.
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."
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.
This is a very original film. There's hope for Hollywood yet, folks.
The beginning and ending of the film are a bit underdeveloped, but that's just quibbling.
Zemeckis' tranquil control never wavers.
I wish that all of the film's 144 minutes were spent alone with Hanks.
This is Mr. Zemeckis' most confident directing to date. If he only had as much faith in his audience.
Thoroughly entertaining and skillfully rendered.
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.
It's really kind of ironic. The old Chuck's life is ruled by the clock. Once he's learned better, we don't get enough time with him because the author's decided it was time to go. Oh, well.
While his philosophical ventures seem stuck in the shallow end of the pool, Zemeckis takes an important step forward as a filmmaker.
Hanks somehow manages to hold us in rapt attention as his Everyman character learns how to build a shelter, spear fish, stoke fires, and cope with isolation.
This isn't a first time a long-awaited movie has turned out to be a crushing disappointment and it won't be the last, but the loss is made even more wrenching when one considers how little it would have taken to make Cast Away a great movie.
It's a risky venture, and a fascinating, straightforward glimpse into the soul of a man.
When I prayed to the film divinities that I wanted less Tom Hanks at the movies, I didn't just mean that I wanted him to be thinner.
If all of Cast Away were as gripping as its long midsection, it would be overwhelming; still, even with its flaws, it marks another milestone performance for Tom Hanks as well as for Robert Zemeckis.
Cast Away says what you (yes, you) would end up doing if you were on a deserted island.
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