because you can't have too much entertainment... January 2001

Nature Boys
Cast Away Dir: Robert Zemeckis. Starring: Tom Hanks & Helen Hunt.
The Beach Dir: Danny Boyle. Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio & Tilda Swinton.

Movie stars. Tom Hanks. Leonardo DiCaprio.

Act 1. Movie star leaves civilization behind.
Act 2. Movie star understandably loses his mind.
Act 3. (Problematic) Movie star regains lost mind and reenters civilization.

Risky filmmaking decision that works wonders.

Cast Away -the absence of music and dialogue for most of an hour.

The Beach -Richard lost in his junked up head. Playing his own video game. Well, it works a little... I don't want to overstate the case.

The final verdicts and a few thoughts on the central performances

Cast Away works. How well it works is arguable. But it works.Tom Hanks will once again reap the rewards but the true achievement here belongs to Robert Zemeckis. He has a knack for investing a certain amount of spirituality into his films and connecting to audiences. He also has a way with actors and in this case he directs Hanks to one of his best performances ever...though I don't think it's quite Oscar worthy.

The central Oscar bait weight loss is pretty impressive and I will admit to a certain amount of joy in seeing skinny Hanks again. But I do have this frustration with public response to Mr. Hanks. He is a good, consistent actor and most definitely a giant movie star but he is certainly not an incredibly gifted actor. His range isn't so impressive and all of his most acclaimed performances, however successful they may be as star turns, always spin on a gimmick. In Philadelphia it's the 'ooh, he's playing gay.' In Forrest Gump it's the one note mentality and speech patterns. And here in Cast Away it's the another gimmicky thing... I don't mean to disparage the performance because it's good and maybe his strongest work but I was just wishing that he would surprise me a little more. You're deserted on an island. You have seen not one human in four years. Surprise me. What would this be like? I just found it to be lacking in inspiration though completely proficient and admirable in every other way. A runner up to my best actor list.

The real weak spot of the movie is the last act which undoes a lot of the power of the first hour and a half. I just didn't buy his easy transition back into real life. Here I feel Zemeckis and the script failed me. The whole film suffers a bit from the desire to be liked. An extension of Hanks' own movie persona, perhaps... but you get this very strong sense of their careful realization of the audiences reactions. 'Don't make the audience uncomfortable whatever you do.' It just doesn't work...but the middle section of the film is strong enough to sail on through.

I am sad to say that another very real problem with the film is that Leonardo DiCaprio is just not up to the demands of the central role. I don't want to be a Leo basher. I enjoyed his work for years before this but I think Titanic may have ruined him. It simply thrust him too far forward (unnaturally) into "great actor" status. His early work was magical and pulsating with promise (This Boys Life & Whats Eating Gilbert Grape) and his ascencion to stardom (Titanic & Romeo +Juliet) was assured and dynamic. But if this film is any indication... Leonardo is either coasting on his über fame or just not invested now that he has nothing to fight for. The world is at his feet and he's sort of phoning it in or, even worse, overracting. Richard's loss of sanity -which should feel unnerving at least and preferrably deeply disturbing is beyond his range. It's DiCaprio in high school play mode. It's a giant step backward for him as an actor.

Richard's return to civilization is easy, his sanity and life enriched and unbelievably intact...as if the events of the film meant little or nothing. Let's hope Leonardo DiCaprio himself shakes off the film as easily as his character did.

-Nathaniel

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