Top Five: Man Vs. Wilderness Movies
3) Cast Away (2000)
Everyone has probably seen this movie at some point or another. I suppose the casting of Tom Hanks was to sell the idea of an everyman, a layman, being caught in an abnormal situation. Robert Zemeckis’ movie in some way harkens back to old dialogue-sparse ’70s movies, where someone like Charles Bronson might have been cast. The actions speak better than any pissant sentimental words.
It don’t know if it’s Hanks’ best movie (that’s The Burbs for me), but it’s damned sure one of ’em. Wouldn’t it have been better if ‘Lost’ had followed this kind of setup more closely instead of the nonsense that show spiralled into? The fat guy remained fat in that show. Here, Hanks deliberately put on weight, then resumed filming after starving himself. That’s how it’s done.
An honourable mention along this line is Robert Redford’s recent ‘All Is Lost’, where Redford is stuck in a sinking yacht at sea.
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