Tom Hanks' powerful, brutal and mature story.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 22, 2010

Though Hanks comes across as blandly as ever, at least his solid performance shows he's up to carrying half a movie on his own, and Zemeckis' direction is at first as busily efficient as the protagonist.

| Jun 24, 2006

Hanks's Everyman quality has never been more aptly utilized: He's the perfect stand-in for all of us who never made it to Eagle Scout.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2002

Chuck has flashes of ingenuity that filled me with the thrill of discovery and invention, and stretches of failure that I felt just as acutely.

| Original Score: A- | May 8, 2002

Cast Away isn't the first to recognize our modern need for primal tales, but it is among the most accomplished. It plugs straight into our unplugged fantasies.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 19, 2002

Hanks conducts a master class in acting by showing a man losing his sense of himself in fractional gradations.

Full Review | Jun 4, 2001

For much of the time, Hanks is on screen by himself, his only dialogue addressed to an inanimate ball. A lesser performer would have made it an unendurable ordeal.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 16, 2001

Cast Away is a significant achievement of this, or any other, year.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 7, 2001

Thoroughly absorbing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 7, 2001

The scenes of Hanks' complete isolation on the island, where barely a sound is heard for minutes at a time, are the best thing about Cast Away.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

Cast Away amounts to little more than an unprecedented showcase for its star.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 22, 2000

Cast Away is, in many ways, a bold, adventurous bid for Oscardom. Unfortunately, what it delivers for audiences, as opposed to Oscar voters, is a little questionable.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

This second section is a masterpiece of filmmaking and a tour de force of acting.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

Beautifully crafted.

| Dec 22, 2000

Touching.

| Dec 22, 2000

Hanks and his collaborators deserve all the praise and awards that surely will come their way.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

Cast Away has a marshmallow middle that feels empty at the core.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

If you've seen the trailer or the commercials, you know the story, but that doesn't mean you've seen the movie.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

While Cast Away works as a simple saga of survival, the film plays on deeper levels too.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2000

Zemeckis is a capable director, so despite the misguided concept, the movie is anything but inept.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 22, 2000