Incredible Journey

When did Tom Hanks become the male equivalent of the Meryl Streep joke?

After back-to-back Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, and because he's regarded in Hollywood as such a nice guy, it has become almost a joke to say, "OK, what's Hanks going to be nominated for this year?" Apollo 13? Saving Private Ryan? Heck, even his voice work in the Toy Story movies didn't seem out of the question for an Oscar nomination.

But one of the reasons Hanks gets talked up for awards every time he makes a movie, the reason we often forget, is that he really is that good. In Cast Away, Hanks gives possibly the most compelling performance of his career -- and he probably won't get all the credit for it he deserves.

Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a FedEx executive who absolutely, positively has to run his life by the clock. "Time rules over us without mercy," he tells employees during a rush job in Moscow. His Day Planner rules over his job, his vacations, even coordinating time to spend with his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt) -- with whom he parts one Christmas night when he has to ride along on a cargo flight over the Pacific.

Then the plane crashes in the ocean and Chuck, the lone survivor, washes ashore on a deserted island. Alone with his wits, a lot of coconuts and the occasional FedEx package that drifts in, Chuck figures out how to survive -- both in body and mind -- as he realizes he may be in this for the long haul.

Hanks reveals Chuck's mental plight with a minimum of dialogue (he doesn't start talking to himself until late in the story) and an economy of body language. Director Robert Zemeckis (who teamed with Hanks in Forrest Gump) gets to indulge in his love for digital effects -- the plane crash is a nail-biter sure to keep the movie off any "in-flight" lists -- but his greatest service is in his restraint, in letting Hanks' small moments speak for themselves.

Whatever you think Cast Away is about (which may be a lot, if you have seen 20th Century Fox's spoiler-laden advertising), it's about much more than that. Though he travels many miles, it's Chuck's emotional journey -- as his inside chronometer resets from seconds to days -- that makes Cast Away worth the trip.