Cast Away [Blu-ray]
Starring: Viveka Davis, Michael Forest, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Tom HanksDirector: Robert Zemeckis
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled
Running Time: 144 minutes
DVD Release: December 4th 2007
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DVD Review
Cast Away is a good movie that wants to be much better. While director Robert Zemeckis's earlier film Contact achieved a kind of mainstream spiritual significance, Cast Away falls just short of that goal. That may explain why the film's most emotionally powerful scene involves the loss of an inanimate object, even as it presents a heart-rending dilemma in its very human final act.
It's three movies in one, beginning when punctuality-obsessed Federal Express systems engineer Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) departs on Christmas Eve to escort an ill-fated flight of FedEx packages. Following a mid-Pacific plane crash, movie number two chronicles Chuck's four-year survival on a remote island, totally alone save for a Wilson volleyball (aptly named "Wilson") that becomes Chuck's closest "friend." Movie number three leads up to Chuck's rescue and an awkward encounter with his ex-girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt, in a thankless role), for whom Chuck has seemingly risen from the grave.
It's fascinating to witness Chuck's emerging survival skills, and Hanks's remarkable physical transformation is matched by his finely tuned performance. With slow, rhythmic camera moves and brilliant use of sound, Zemeckis wisely avoids the postcard prettiness of The Black Stallion and The Blue Lagoon to emphasize the harshness of Chuck's ascetic solitude, and this stylistic restraint allows Cast Away to resonate more than one might expect. Even the final scene--which feels like a crowd-pleasing compromise--offers hope without shoving it down our throats. You may not feel the emotional rush that you're meant to feel, but Cast Away remains a respectable effort. --Jeff Shannon
User Reviews
just the movie - Rating: 2/5
This blu-ray version only has the movie, no extras.
What blu-ray manufacturers are thinking? The disc suppose to have 50 Gb of space. But they decided to only put the movie. Plus the quality is Ok, just a little bit better than the dvd version. What a waste of money.
Blu-ray version review - Rating: 3/5
I own movies in both HD DVD and Blu-Ray formats so I've seen very many HD movies and am well familiar with the formats capabilities.
Being one of my favorite movies, Cast Away's release in Hi-Def got me very excited. I'm a big fan of the movie and give the movie itself 5 stars but am only reviewing the quality of this release here. The opening sequence where the FedEx truck drives up and picks up the package for delivery to Russia looks only slightly better than the standard DVD. When the truck opens up and the Russia scene starts it looks a lot better, but still more like 720p quality. Through the rest of the movie the HD quality stays about the same, decent but not great. It's certainly a step up from DVD but there are a few scenes that seem to be no better than my 2 disc DVD edition. The best looking scenes are the closeup scenes where the HD quality becomes more apparent but it still doesn't look anywhere near as good as other HD titles I own. Some of the best looking HD titles I own are: The Matrix collection, 2001, The Fifth Element, Apollo 13, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pirates of the Caribbean, and number of others.
While watching the movie and examining the quality I came to the thought that it might not be the transfer that's the issue but possibly it was the director of photography's filming. It looks like the DP tried hard to keep a balance of focus between the actor and the background thereby not getting a truly sharp focus. I could be wrong but this is what it looked like. The 5.1 surround sound was fantastic. I didn't notice any difference between my DVD and Blu-ray versions, though I do admit I really didn't examine the audio.
Overall the movie was nice but I was let down as I was expecting better, especially from a movie with such a great environment. If you own the 2 disc DVD keep in mind the 2 disc set has all those extras and this hi-def release does not. So you may want to hold onto your set. Don't go getting Cast Away expecting the same HD quality you see in all those top notch movies that people use to showcase the format. It still looks great and certainly better than DVD just not leaps and bounds better for most of the scenes. Again, I can't say for sure but it may simply have been the way it was filmed.
Viewed on:
Sony PS3 (latest update)
Samsung LN-T5265F 52" LCD 1080P (calibrated)
Toshiba 5.1 surround sound system
Great movie! - Rating: 5/5
I really love this movie. The director was a genious considering at one point you want to cry for the volleyball!
my favorite way to pass out - Rating: 5/5
Tom gives such a tremendo... what the hell am I saying... this movie is perfect for those nights where you just want to close your eyes and drift off to sleep to the sound of the ocean. Tom's infrequent, frantic outbursts only stir imagery of a better world where people like Tom are tortured and left to die on a island filled with no scripts. Oh how I long for just 4 more years of no Hanks films.... aye but it tis the way of the beast. But seriously - hanks can go to hell, other than that one of my favorite movies.
One of Tom Hanks' best! - Rating: 5/5
Cast Away with Tom Hanks is the story of survival after a plane crash and the evential survival skills facing our hero in this movie. It puts the TV reality series "Survivor" to shame. Excellent film with its story line and the eventual rescue in the end. Not to be missed by the Tom's many fans! I enjoyed it!!
