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.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I dug how Wilson was born of fear and frustration and anger, and then adopted the role of negative naysayer. it was pretty brilliant because survival takes a shitload of optimism, but fear can't be ignored for long.

    I also dug most everything about the movie, including the quiet, but loving surrender of his former fiance. it felt so real and deep, because he knew his memory of her kept him alive, but after he was back, he had to let it go.

    I also really liked the open ending and how slow/quiet and sensitively observant he had come to be. how he was driving way out into the truly rural US to hand deliver the package, without really a big plan but to see more of the quiet earth. that resonated with me big time, as a more dramatic and extreme version of my own life.