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Castaway

An okay movie that “sounds” better than it is. (Sounds, as in, reading the premise and knowing the talent involved.)

• Structure/Plot

Tom’s rescue is cut short. We go from him nearly dead in the ocean and seeing the ship to him nicely dressed flying home. What happened to the juicy stuff in between? I so wanted to see his reaction on touching another human being for the first time in over four years. I wanted to see his expression as he lied down in a bed with a pillow and blanket. I wanted to see him shave. (See Alive for a similar flaw.)

I understand why Robert Zemeckis didn’t show this stuff- it’s not important to the story. Here’s why I think it is: The story is not about a guy on a deserted island. If it were, the first thirty minutes would’ve been ten and the denoument would’ve been two or cut altogether. Rather, the story is about a guy’s life before, while and after he’s deserted on an island. That’s why the movie paints such a detailed picture of his life with FedEx and Helen Hunt. That’s why so much detail is given to the plane crash. (Think about that- Unbreakable shows a major train crash as a news report.) Then, of course, are all the minutiae of Tom surviving and the cold-reality ending of him coming back.

So if Zemeckis decided on such a detailed story where hardly anything is omitted, why did he skip a mere few minutes of such juicy material as Tom’s contact with the rescuers? A few seconds of him eating something besides fish and coconuts. A few moments of him getting into bed. Remember- this little sequence is on the ship. Then the dramatic juxtaposition of scenes can still be had- you do a slow dissolve from Tom shaving to him nicely dressed on the plane.

And notice I don’t critique the skipping of time in the fish sequence, where years pass in a flash as Tom hunts for food. That fits the story and makes sense.

• The end

Tom delivers the FedEx package he saved all the years on the island- cute. It turns out the package is for the pretty lady who gave him directions- hmmm. He looks around, turns to the road where the lady went and smiles- corny.

Tom overcoming the “loss” of his ex-fiancee and looking forward to the sun rising the next day is enough. This type of movie calls for an open-ending where the audience can imagine what happens next. (See Unbreakable and Erin Brockovitch for more on the difference between an open and closed-ending.)

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