Film Critique: Pick a Movie - Research Paper Example

He does anything to get a package delivered in time. He even has a history of stealing a kid’s bicycle in order to get a delivery done in time as his truck broke down. Back from a Russian trip, he enjoys his Christmas dinner with his girlfriend Kelly and his family. However, he immediately receives the call that he has to reach Malaysia. Soon, he takes off and the plane flies over the South Pacific. The air is stormy; the plane off course, and in a short time, there is an explosion. The plane makes a nose dive to the ocean.

As it hits water, Chuck escapes from the belly of the burning plane with the help of an inflatable life raft. The strong waves take him ashore a tropical island that is uninhabited. There, one sees him struggling to survive as he is left with no equipments of modern civilization. He is forced to live a rudimentary life. He breaks coconuts with stones, makes fire using logs and, in a matter of four years, manages to reach the homeland back. There he finds himself even lonelier as other people have already taken him for dead.

Even his lover has married his dentist and has a daughter in the marriage. Though she declares her love for him, he realizes her responsibility towards her family and leaves her. He goes back to the country to return the unopened FedEx pack to its sender. He finds the house empty, and leaves the pack at the door with the note that it saved his life. Admittedly, the story is presented in chronological order that makes sure that there is no travel back and forth in time. Such a move would have given the film the air of a melodrama.

Also, the characters do not care to be too overwhelmingly overtaken by grief and to present the grief in such a dramatic and awkward way that would have made the film an average one. Instead, the feeling of witnessing something real is the feeling one gets while watching the film. Without the support of flashbacks and artificial music, one gets a chance to know the power of nature, the eeriness of isolation, and realizes that Chuck is more akin to reality than to fiction. The film is presented in a highly simplified chronological order that does not intend to add any complexity.

The film can be successfully divided into three acts. While the first act is up to Chuck’s boarding the plane, the second act is the plane crash and the consequent struggle to survive in the island. The third act is on his coming back to Tennessee. The first act is rather similar to a family movie which is in danger of getting the viewers bored. However, as a general rule in Hollywood, the love affair between Chuck and Kelly is supposed to go through some turbulence, and hence, an experienced viewer finds the development of anxiety and fear even in the calmer waters of the first act.

The second act offers a lot of action and adventure associated with the plane crash and the struggle in the island. The third act brings along with it some conflict that is necessary for a drama. However, the central character in the film acts in a way the hero in a traditional blockbuster is not supposed to do. The beauty of the film is that it closely follows the main character Chuck, and the number of scenes without Chuck is very limited. The film almost fully concentrates on Chuck as an individual, and hence, the internal conflicts of Chuck gain more importance in the film.

At first, he is in conflict with his own self that prompts him