thomas4cinema

I had not seen this one since it came out, and I forgot that it was Robert Zemeckis who made it. I write this because when I saw his name, I immediately felt kind of happy – he has delivered so many entertaining films over the years that he really is one of my favourites, with very few misses. Same here: “FedEx presents Castaway” is one of Tom Hank’s more interesting performances. It has a very pretty location, a lot of sun and beach scenes, and a funny script. What can go wrong? Only this time around I was wondering whether it could not have been a little bit more grim, shown a little bit more of the desperation that certainly must take its toll. There is this … is it 3 year ? … time leap in the middle, and I could imagine that some of these times have not been all jolly and exotic fruity. Which again led me to think how interesting it is that whatever topic Zemeckis touches on, the result will be a family film. He could probably do a Night if The Living Dead remake and end up with a hilarious ride through the graveyard, PG 12. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not always what one would prefer from a given subject matter. So maybe Zemeckis and Spielberg should spin off an adult entertainment section of their studios and start with “FedEx presents Cannibal Castaway”. I would watch that.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/castaway/