Guest Blogger: Matt P2

Once again, Tom Hanks refuses to be dismissed as one of the great actors, as he comes back with a highly-praised movie in Castaway. Hanks starts off the movie as a high-strung manager of FedEx, living his life by the clock, but he develops in different ways as he is ripped out of his solace and into a survival situation as his plane crashes and he is forced to live off of an island in the middle of the ocean alone. He can adapt and survive as best as he can, but will he be able to make it? With his best friend being a volleyball named Wilson (due to the brand name) he lives off of fishing and gathering, while utilizing whatever scattered packages from the crashed plane to help him along. With a dental infection slowly eating away at his mouth and the island inevitably running out of resources, how long can he live? Tom Hanks plays Chuck, and does an excellent job at portraying a desperate/changed role from high-maintenance to reticent and retreated, but not yet defeated. He dreams of returning home to his significant other Kelly (played by Helen hunt), who also plays a pivotal and successful role in the movie. Hunt brings to life the struggles of those who have lost lovers to crashes and natural disasters. A great theme to be taken away from this movie is one based on having to give up a certain lifestyle to adapt to whatever life throws at you, from something as dramatic as a crash, to something as trivial as a new class in school; swim and you might survive. Critics adored this movie and it is still fairly renowned even today, so I have to agree with every positive aspect of it. This film is worth all money I have ever invested in it, and would be for anyone looking for a great flick to sit down and watch over and over again.