What a DVD gives you is the freedom to skip back and forward through a movie, watch the whole thing repeatedly, or even listen to some choice insights from the director over the top of whats already going on. These arent features that will always be guaranteed to enhance a movie but, in the case of Cast Away, they definitely do.
Its one of those films that always seems to have something new to offer upon each viewing. For a feature with only one character to involve yourself with for over 2/3 of its running time, theres a helluva lot going on here. In years to come, this movie, much like its star, may well be looked back upon with even greater fondness than it was first received.
Tom Hanks delivers the performance of a lifetime as Chuck Noland, the punctuality-obsessed FedEx man forced to fend for himself on a remote island for four years when his plane crashes into the Pacific. His only supplies are the contents of the packages washed up with the wreckage, his only friend an inanimate volleyball named Wilson, and his only jumper a God-awful piece of knitwear of the type your Granny hands out at Christmas.
Hanks, despite his major Hollywood status, has always had a knack for playing the everyman, and youll feel his every emotion as he struggles to survive his enforced exile from civilisation. Much of the scenery is rugged and impenetrable rather than conventionally beautiful Hanks may be playing a modern day Robinson Crusoe, but this is no tropical paradise.