1)From what I've heard, palm trees don't float.

Palm trees do float if the outer bark will become water logged easily, but it will still float.

2)Ice skate blades don't have a sharp edge on them.

When did he use the sharp edge? I remember him opening coconuts but that didn't require a sharp edge.

3) Isn't the best method to start a fire with wood is with the bow and twin method? He had the shoe strings from the skates.

Yeah, if the strings would hold up it would probably be a much better way than rubbing your hands raw as he did in the movie.

4) Kind of difficult figuring out how that FedEx package saved his life when in the movie all they showed that he had just set it aside for some reason. From what I gathered, what saved his life was thinking of his fiancee and Wilson.

I think it is because the will to deliver the package was one of the things that kept him alive, but I agree...I think his girlfriend and Wilson had more to do with it.

5) Do you really think after 4 years he could have adjusted back to the world only after 4 weeks?

Yeah, probably. He didn't seem to go that crazy and 4 years isn't really that long of a time, think of all the POWs that adjust back to the states rather quickly after being in camps for long periods of time.

6) Wasn't it amazing that he came out of the crash without a scratch?

Not really, its a movie.

7) What the hell was in the box! I kept thinking it was a satellite phone or something.

A palm pilot V, with a high-speed, broadband, wireless connection.

The "box that saved his life" had angel wings on it,it came from the girl in the begenning,and he returned it to her at the end,it had symbolic meaning.the movie was about average to me,i saw it last night.

From the perspective of one who teaches wilderness survival, I enjoyed the movie. It was, after all, just a movie. But; I've met the consultants they hired for the survival bits and they are some of the best primitive survival instructors around, the movie did a good job showing a progression of learning and luck on the character's part and all the frustration that can go with it, i.e. the coconut scene - he tried to smack it on rocks until he "discovered" that a sharp jagged edge would work better, eventually ending up with the ice skate, I just pretended along with the movie and figured he learned how to grind a sharp edge on the skate with rocks. The fire plow method (which he used) can work with ALOT of effort (in my case at least), as well as the bow/drill, hand drill, etc., with the right combination of materials and body mechanics. And  yes, many things contribute to a person's ability to hang in there during stressful, isolated and life-threatening situations. If you want to read a good wilderness survival book read the kid's book; Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I go to 5th grade classes and discuss the survival issues from the book while/after the kids read it, and we go out in the yard and they build shelters and "start" fires. Great fun, and a well written book, every kid should read it!

The bottoms of Ice skate blades are concave. The outer edges of the blade are very sharp.


Being a nitpicker this kind of thing ruins the movie for me.


The box contained her divorce papers. The box was originally delivered to the man in Moscow. You can hear the woman he's with ask something to the effect "Is that the package from yor wife?"

nah Cast Away is just a Giant Fed Ex Comercial

"it may take us 4 years but will get it there"

I've been thinking, if he had one of those dangerous, illegal, terrible AW's in the box, and had been firing it on full auto no less, he might have gotten someone's attention alot sooner. Of course he'd be cast away somewhere else then.