All eyes are on everyone’s favorite actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson as they recover in quarantine from the coronavirus. Hanks has been a beacon of hope for the world, offering messages of reassurance from his isolated position. Needless to say, this situation has caused many to think back on one of Hanks’ most famous movie roles in Cast Away.

Hanks stars as a man who survives a plane crash only to find himself stranded alone on an island. As rescue fails to come, he must fight for his own life. The movie is an epic and engrossing survival story featuring one of Hanks’ best performances. If you love Cast Away and are looking for more movies that highlight staying strong in isolation, we have some great suggestions for you.

10 Rescue Dawn (2006)

Cast Away finds Hanks fighting for survival on an island, but the second half of the film focuses on his daring escape. Rescue Dawn follows a similar path as it stars Christian Bale as a pilot in the Vietnam war who is shot down and taken prisoner.

The Werner Herzog film shows the incredible brutality this man has to endure in captivity, and the amazing resolve he has to finally find a way to escape. Bale once again undergoes an incredible transformation and delivers another superb performance.

9 The Grey (2011)

Part of what’s so compelling about Cast Away is that Hanks begins as a somewhat clueless man without any idea how to survive in the elements. We then see him gradually learning and teaching himself as time goes by.

The Grey takes a different approach with its protagonist. Liam Neeson stars as a hunter who is on a small plane that crashes in the arctic tundra. This man knows the dangers they face, and attempts to lead the other survivors across the unforgiving wilderness while being hunted by wolves.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

8 Locke (2013)

Hanks’ performance in Cast Away is such a powerhouse. He carries the entire movie despite being the only person on screen for a large majority of the runtime. It is a level of talent that few actors have.

See also  Evan Rachel Wood's 10 Best Movies According To Rotten Tomatoes

Tom Hardy proved to be up to that daunting task as well in a very different film. In Locke, Hardy plays a man driving in his car on his way to a business meeting as his whole life gradually falls apart. The entire film is just this man in his car, driving and talking on the phone, yet Hardy makes it utterly engrossing.

7 Captain Phillips (2013)

Hanks doesn’t seem to have good luck in the middle of the ocean. First, he was fighting off mother nature in Cast Away, and then he was fighting off pirates in Captain Phillips. Based on a true story, Hanks plays the captain of a cargo ship who is taken hostage by pirates.

He is once again in the role of an ordinary man put in an extraordinary position. The heroics in the film are not particularly grand, but Hanks sells them with such authenticity that we become entirely captivated by this man’s plight.

6 Swiss Army Man (2016)

Cast Away is really the quintessential deserted island movie. It takes one character, one setting, and tells a simple yet gripping tale of survival. It would be hard for any movie to bring something new to that type of story, but the filmmakers behind Swiss Army Man certainly found a unique approach.

The movie stars Paul Dano as a hopeless man stranded on an island who comes across the corpse of a man (Daniel Radcliffe). Together the two unlikely friends go on a surreal and touching journey together. It is one of the strangest and entertaining films you’re likely to see in a while.

5 127 Hours (2010)

While the survival story at the center of Cast Away is grand and captivating, it’s easy to forget there are real-life survival stories that are as harrowing as anything Hollywood could ever come up with.

See also  Scrubs: 5 Things It Got Right About A Doctor’s Life (& 5 Things It Got Wrong)

James Franco stars in 127 Hours as Aron Ralston, an experienced hiker and climber. While on a solo hike, Aron’s arm becomes trapped under a boulder with no help in sight. Franco gives a powerful performance in what is essentially a one-man show, and the story itself is a frightening, heartbreaking and inspiring true story.

4 Apollo 13 (1995)

Hanks appears yet again in a gripping story of survival against great odds. This time, he has traded the middle of the ocean for the equally perilous darkness of space in another true story that feels almost unbelievable.

Hanks stars alongside Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon as astronauts of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. After a catastrophic failure, their mission in aborted, and they must make their way back to earth as their ship falls apart. The movie delivers edge-of-your-seat thrills even if you know how it ends.

3 All Is Lost (2013)

With all these movies about disaster on the high seas, you begin to wonder why people ever leave dry land. Robert Redford gives his own incredible one-man show performance in All is Lost. He plays a man sailing alone on his sailboat who finds himself gradually in more and more danger after his boat is damaged.

Despite the impending doom throughout the film, it is a quiet story. Redford is almost wordless in the role yet holds your attention the entire time. It is a mesmerizing look at determination in the face of death.

2 Life Of Pi (2012)

It is not just the fight for survival that makes Cast Away an interesting story; it is also the aftermath of that experience once he gets off the island. This man who was always on the go finds that life went on without him and he has to forge his new path now.

See also  Enola Holmes Cast & Character Guide

Life of Pi tells a similar tale of not only how someone survived, but how the event shaped the rest of their life. Ang Lee directed this beautiful and heartbreaking story based on the acclaimed novel by Yann Martel. It is a story that holds an emotional punch but also a touching message.

1 The Martian (2015)

Survival stories like Cast Away are so powerful not only because of the harrowing journey of the main character but for the incredible feeling of seeing someone overcome adversary and go on. The Martian is another wonderful example of such a story being done so effectively.

Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, an astronaut who is left behind on a mission to Mars. As a rescue mission is mounted at NASA, Watney uses his mind to solve each new problem he faces so he can stay alive. It is a captivating, funny, and entertaining process of a man taking one small step after another to make his way home.

Next10 Scariest Villains In Disney Movies

About The Author


Colin McCormick
(2027 Articles Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud member of the team since 2019. In addition to his work as Screen Rant, Colin is also a writer of News, Feature and Review pieces at Game Rant. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going back to the first time he saw The Lion King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays up-to-date on the latest must-see TV shows. While he loves to find interesting projects in any kind of genre, he has a special movie of crime stories that are infused with a little dark humor much like the work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

More From Colin McCormick