Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific, and the plot focuses on his desperate attempts to survive and return home. It has heart, humour and depth and it has really perked an interest in the saeguk genre, for me.Cast Away is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. (Especially after watching a drama for 20 hours!) However, it was a beautiful story with beautiful characters (and great action scenes) and I recommend it to all. The only reason why this drama doesn't get a perfect 10 from me is because I felt that the romance did actually weigh things down quite a bit and whilst the ending was good, the slight openness of it did irk me off because I prefer more defined endings. There wasn't really anything that I could call a 'bad performance' in the drama, and though I didn't like Eun Chae, Han Hyo Joo did what she could with such a bland character. The best performances, in my opinion, came from Lee Moon Shik, Lee Yong Ah, Lee Jun Ki and Kim Sung Ryung, Lee Won Jong (who was perfect as the delightfully self-serving and wicked, Byun Shik) and Park Shi Hoo. I actually felt like I was watching a father/son team whenever those two were on screen with each other. The actor who played Seo Dol was amazing - that guy put me through emotional highs and lows, and he had amazing chemistry with Lee Jun-ki. The cast fully suited their roles, and although Lee Jun-ki is partial to some overacting, it wasn't anything that detracted away from the drama. The drama does not suffer from bad acting at all.

However, his moral conflicts and his struggles with his identity were quite touching, and although he didn't have the same impact as Yoong, I did sympathise with him a lot. I thought it was kind of weird how he loved Eun Chae (not a spoiler, this is pretty much obvious from the outset of the drama) because he believed her to be his sister, although she wasn't (again, not a spoiler), so that incest-but-not-incest thing kind of grossed me off him for a while. I didn't have a problem with Ja Do/Shi Hoo, though. She was a brilliant 3-dimensional character - like Yoong - and she had true depth. The second main girl - who actually had a more significant impact, and had a purpose in the story - had much more convincing chemistry with Yong and I would have preferred her to be his primary love interest.

She was an unnecessary character, in my opinion, and her romance with Iljimae was highly unconvincing. Every time she would pop up on screen, the story would end up slowing down. I saw no true purpose, asides from being a romantic tool, for Eun Chae yes, she was caring, kind and seemingly selfless (well, at least that is what she liked to think) but her character lacked development, depth and heart. Overall, the story was very good however, the romantic aspect of the plot really did weigh it down. She appears to be cold and indifferent towards both Seo Dol and Yong (and even her own biological son, Ja Dol/Shi Hoo), but that's just way of trying to protect herself if anything bad happened to either of them. I also have a lot of admiration for Yong's adoptive mother Dan-ee. The impact Seo Dol and Yong have on each other just pulls on my heartstrings, and I am usually a person who remains highly unmoved by fiction. I haven't seen a father/son relationship, like that, in K-Drama - ever. You can tell that Seo Dol has this completely unconditional love for Yong (despite him not being his biological son), and their relationship is so special and beautiful. The father/son relationship was also incredibly moving. It is beautiful to watch the story unfold and see our hero grow. Our hero isn't some morally conflicted guy who can't tell right from wrong - in fact, the drama does well by clearly defining the hero's morals and making sure that he never strays too far away from them. However, unlike most revenge stories, it has a heart. It is, without giving anything way, a revenge story. The story is similar to Robin Hood, but it's more sophisticated, powerful, moving and gritty than the traditional English folk tale. Although the first 6 episodes are a bit slow, the story soon picks up with a quick-fire, rapid pace that will leave your heart feeling as if it had been pulled out and stamped upon. This review may contain spoilers 'Iljimae' has left me sitting in a puddle of my own (hypothetical) tears.

Cast away megashare