What is up with this movie? Just watched it recently and it's aged incredibly poorly imo
It's been well established that Tom Hanks is a CIA asset, and we've had a handful of threads about how Forrest Gump sucks this year, and it definitely bleeds into Cast Away as well.
- The "end of history" moment right at the beginning of the movie, where FedEx brings "freedom" to post-USSR Russia.
- The whole film is just an ad for FedEx
- I know things need to look good on film, but decades later, a lot of the survival scenes are simply unconvincing. The firemaking setup didn't look particularly efficient, and the wood didn't really look worn or charred as though it were starting to smolder, it just kinda happens. Same for the idea of throwing a fishing spear, which may happen, but I've never heard of that being successful.
- Hanks going full Boomer-mode with his mental math in a few scenes kinda felt like it had a tone of "yeah they don't teach this stuff in schools anymore, this is how it's done 😔 "
- The conclusion was drawn out and boring af, just watching him stand idly at a crossroads for like 15 minutes or something. His interactions with his love interest felt uncompelling.
- Goes for just about any Tom Hanks movie, but it's like the whitest shit I've ever seen. Watching a PMC bossman try and open a coconut and the movie is acting like there's some sort of supreme ingenuity to it.
Idk I'm probably being over the top, so please pile on or tell me to chill out about it or whatever.
Meh bad take. I liked the movie.
Sure it is not anything groundbreaking or particularly noteworthy, it is an average-good movie simply because there are at least a couple of things that stand out.
The portrayal of the basic human need for social interaction, you know it is the old cliche "the last man alive on earth", but realy not many people put too much weight on what real isolation feels like and what effect it would have on you.
So he ends up creating a fictional friend and becomes so emotionally attached to it to the point it is harmful, many people would have died when he tries to rescue the ball as it floats away.
The survival scenes may not be entirely accurate but most people wont know any better honestly, and imo at least a couple of them were funny, I liked the tooth problem bit, it is definitely relatable if you ever had those I think eventually you'd try something just as stupid after a while.
As for Tom Hanks at least in that movie he gets significant prop for the actual work he had to do behind the scenes with losing weight and all that, say what you want but he had dedication and it wasn't even a particularly high budget movie either. He definitely managed to look the part within reason obviously you would never get an actor to actualy look malnourished enough except with lots of CGI these days.
Also you underrate how hard it is to act in a mostly solo movie, not having someone to read lines with, reacting to their character etc. It is not trivial to basically talk to an object/monologue for a whole movie and make that believable.
As for the Fedex ad I don't know if seeing having your plane crash is a good ad. In the end though most people don't realy care for small details like so it is not particularly high rated either.
I didn't really mention this in the post cause I just felt like trashing on it, but this is definitely the standout if the entire film for me, I definitely rate that aspect highly
Christian Bale would like a word