The Beach Reviews - Page 1

Reviews

Film Review Year Book 2001

Few films are afforded such negative publicity during production. But in the wake of the phenomenal success of Titanic, all eyes were locked on DiCaprio. The prognosis was not good. After turning down a slew of mouth-watering offers, (notably American Psycho), the cherubic 24-settled on The Beach, a mainly British production adapted from the novel by Alex Garland and produced by the team that brought us Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and Life Less Ordinary. First of all, Ewan McGregor grumbled that, in the interests of commercialism, the central character had been changed from a Brit to a Yank. Then came the environmental horror stories. Apparently,the production had transformed a Thai paradise into a self-serving film set, uprooting rare grasses, bulldozing sand dunes and planting no less than 60 palm trees. However, accroding to producer Andrew Macdonald, he not only paid Thailand's Forestry Commission 66,000 british pounds, for permission to shoot there, but 3 tons of rubbish was removed fron the site, and at considerable cost, the beach was returned to its former glory.

In the interests of the story, the idyllic settind had to be right. For The Beach is a powerful polemic on the precarious politics of paradise. Dissatisfied with the numbimg mediocrity of his life. Richard (DiCaprio), a young American backpacker, goes in search of new experience. Arriving in Bangkok, he turns his back on the comforts of home in favour of a rundown hostel and an oppurtunity to sample local delicacies as snakes blood. Then during a surreal encounter wtih a drug-addled Scotsman (Carlye), he learns of a secret paradise hidden by vertiginous cliffs and geographic isolation. Accompanied by a young French couple, our hero finds his island and in turn, his true vocation - the pure pursuit of pleasure. Of course, this being a Danny Boyle film, Richard's nirvana is not all that he hoped. But then the very nature of Utopia is a figment of the imagination, is it not?

Boasting superlative production values and a terrific script by John Hodge, The Beach is a gripping contemplation of the nature of our world and ourselves - and how we view both. DiCaprio himself, already looking older thand he did in Titanic( and appearing more handsome than pretty), invests the part of Richard with gusto and is well supported by a largely unknown cast. And Angelo Badalementi's evocative, electronic score is another major plus

Top of the Page



Eabsinthe.com Review

He journeyed into paradise. Now he must escape from hell.

Fresh from the cosmic success of Titanic, Leo DiCaprio stars in The Beach. Based on the best-selling novel by slacker prince, Alex Garland, the film is the latest work by cultural barometer, Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting and Shallow Grave.

Slapping on the mozzie cream, donning a bead necklace and filling its rucksack with tie-dye kaftans, the film follows lost American soul, Leo to Thailand as he searches the Orient for release from the mindless materialism and information headache of modern Western life.

His search along the usual 'gap' year trail is leaving Leo spiritually unsatisfied. But then he meets drug-frazzled, suicidal Scottish traveller, Duffy (played with typical scene-stealing bravura by Robert Carlyle) who leaves him a map to an Earthly paradise, a legendary commune secreted on an idyllic Thai island.

Leaping at the chance for the ultimate soul-searching experience, Leo teams up with sultry French teenager, Virginie Ledoyen, and her intrepid boyfriend, Guillaume Canet, and together they make the dangerous trip to the hidden beach. What they discover surpasses all their expectations, a Utopia of like-minded, loved-up hippies living in the most exquisite setting imaginable. The only problem seems to be that it shares the island with a marijuana farm, but they seem to coexist perfectly amicably. So why would Duffy ever want to leave this place?

After lapping up the sheer perfection of the scenery, and basking in the free spirit of the commune, Leo notices a subtle shift. Maybe it's the drugs, or maybe it's his emotional entanglements with Ledoyen and commune leader Tilda Swinton that shifts the balance, but things are turning nasty and pretty soon Leo finds himself ejected from the safety of the Beach and descending into a nightmare of paranoid dread. His paradise has been lost.

But then the neighbouring drug farmer makes a dangerous discovery that threatens the entire commune. Can Leo haul himself out of hallucinating madness to save himself and his former friends.

Director Doyle's first venture into big budget Hollywood is an enticing and visually exquisite success, enjoying echoes of Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now! Garland's paired down, cinematic writing style obviously helped enormously, but Doyle's screen adaptation, racing along to a pumping rave soundtrack, highlights the exciting narrative with some directorial fireworks, including an amazing sequence in which the tripping DiCaprio imagines he's running through the levels of a jungle based video-game. There are also neat references to Vietnam War films and stunning photography from cinematographer, Darius Khondji.

As for the film's main attraction, DiCaprio chose to star in The Beach instead of American Psycho and its reputed $25 million wage packet. There's no doubt that he wanted to move away from the clean-cut saccharine heroism of Titanic, but Bret Easton Ellis's consumerist killer obviously represented a leap that might alienate his considerable fan base. It was a good move. His performance as The Beach's disenchanted pop culture junkie turned animal of survival will win plaudits for the kind of complex sensitivity he last demonstrated in The Basketball Diaries, while the fact that he spends most of the film showing off his bronzed torso will satisfy his legion of teenybopper fans. All in all, definitely worth the ticket price.

Top of the Page



Inside out Film Review

hyped-to-heaven new movie, the Boyle/MacDonald/Hodge triumvirate (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary) prove something important to those groupies of doom who make a career of belittling famous people for being talentless and pretty. Leonardo DiCaprio - say it loud, say it clear! - did not go down with the ship. The promise he displayed in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and A Boy's Life has been realised.

Richard is an innocent on the backpackers' trail, searching for the secret of whatever - happiness? - in the tourist pit stops of South East Asia. He understands the irony of "traveling 10,000 miles to watch TV and seek out the comforts of home." He may not know why he's doing it, but knows why he isn't. Following the crowd, doing the drugs, photographing the sights, playing an American abroad is not why he came to Bangkok. He came because he had the time and the money and it was there that he met Daffy (Robert Carlyle), a crazy Scot, in a downmarket doss house, who gave him a map and told him about the beach.

This is Thailand, where natural beauty literally grows on trees. Before Daffy puts a knife to his anguish, he enthuses a baffled Richard about the paradise he has left. "It's a beach resort for people who don't like beach resorts." Difficult to find, almost impossible to get to, jealously guarded, the place makes Eden look suburban.

Alex Garland's novel became a cult amongst student travelers. John Hodge's script is not as dark, nor as threatening. The message is less of a warning against perfection's poison, rather a reminder that "desire is desire wherever you go." Sex, as usual, can't keep its hands to itself. The beach is pristine, enclosed by towering cliffs, on a tiny island off the coast of another tiny island. Gun-toting natives, who look like Mexicans from B-picture Westerns, live at one end, guarding fields of marijuana, and a multicultural commune, run by an English games mistress (Tilda Swinton), inhabit the other.

Danny Boyle directs with his customary verve. DiCaprio lives and breathes Richard, always one step away from realising what the hell is going on. This is a film about possession. If you inherit paradise, would you share it with the world? Would you lend your girl to that skinny Yank who can't take a joke? If a man is dying for want of medicine, would you let him to keep a secret?

Beauty stops being an issue. "I tried to remember the person I used to be," Richard says, after losing his innocence. In the end, only one thing matters. Survival.

The Wolf

Original Article

Top of the Page



People Magazine Review
By Leah Rozen

February 14, 2000 -- What is it with Leonardo DiCaprio and water? You'd think the guy would yearn for some terra firma now and then. But in his first movie since the iceberg doomed him in Titanic,he's back in the drink, this time splashing around in the warm, azure waters off a remote island near Thailand. There may not be any icebergs in sight, but that doesn't keep The Beachfrom sinking under the weight of its own pretensions.

DiCaprio plays a footloose American (that's all we know about him; the movie is annoyingly stingy on characters' personal histories) who travels to Bangkok looking for new experiences. At his fleabag hotel the drug-addled fellow (Robert Carlyle) in the next room starts jabbering about a secret island paradise, then thoughtfully tacks a map onto DiCaprio's door before slitting his own wrists. Undaunted and with map in hand, DiCaprio and his new best friends, an attractive French couple (Ledoyen and Guillaume Canet), set off for their tropical Eden. Find it they do, discovering that it is occupied by a motley international crew of dropouts who have created a self-sufficient community. "I settled in," DiCaprio says in a voice-over, "and found my vocation: the pursuit of pleasure."

Paradise, he soon discovers, can be a real drag. Even in this ostensible idyll, there are rules and hierarchies, and lies can still catch up to you. Not that any of it matters much. The Beach, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) with visual flair but no feel whatever for creating characters, fails because it never establishes an identity of its own. Inevitably it becomes a series of comparative scenes:the bit that's like The Blue Lagoon, the echoes of Jaws, the similarities to Lord of the Flies. DiCaprio works himself into a lather, emoting mightily, but since his character is little more than a cipher, there's no emotional payoff in the end. (R)

Bottom Line: Glub, glub, glub

Top of the Page



Hollywood.com Review
By Chuck Walton

Leonardo DiCaprio will be enough to draw a flood at the box office on opening weekend for "The Beach." But it's questionable whether his performance or the movie's spectacular visuals will keep it afloat in the long run. The movie, based on Alex Garland's bestseller, comes across as a good-looking, watchable and altogether derivative mishmash of "Lord of the Flies," "Apocalypse Now" and, for the romantics, dollops of "Titanic" and "The Blue Lagoon."

DiCaprio's character, a self-absorbed '90s brat named Richard, starts off the pic explaining that the audience doesn't need to know much about him. His blank slate is supposed to represent all the American twentysomethings who take off to foreign lands in search of something more concrete than a Nintendo Game Boy.

The credits have barely ended before Richard lands a room in a Bangkok hole inhabited by a few colorful characters, including the appropriately named Daffy (an over-the-top Robert Carlyle), a beautiful French girl named Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen) and her boyfriend Etienne (Guillaume Canet).

It appears that Daffy knows a secret about a perfect, unblemished isle off the Thai coast. Only a few people know about the place, and its endless supply of grass (the kind the natives smoke, too). Before a rather graphic suicide, Daffy passes along the map to the adventuresome protagonist, who invites his attractive French neighbors along for the expedition.

Trouble comes when they reach their point of destination. The island's an amazing eyeful (breathtakingly photographed by lenser Darius Khondji), but the marijuana farmers toting machine guns aren't exactly a welcoming committee. A group of westerners who've formed their own idyllic commune on the isle are allowed to stay under one condition -- no one else is allowed on the beach.

Richard and company manage to sneak in under the wire. And in a matter of mere movie minutes, Richard also sneaks in under buddy Etienne's radar, stealing girlfriend Francoise away for a well-choreographed midnight tryst in the ocean.

As with most stranded-on-an-isle adventure dramas, the weather continues to cloudy up. A trip to the mainland with the commune's controlling semi-dictator Sal ("Orlando's" Tilda Swinton) allows for a bit of blackmail and infidelity that will come back to haunt Richard -- at least in terms of the movie's potential as a love story.

From there, the film devolves into an unnecessary, unrealistic update of "Apocalypse," complete with funny fantasy sequences playing out in Richard's mind, and an unfunny comparison to the Kurtz-Willard relationship between Richard and his dead, off-kilter mentor Daffy.

The film has its moments of genuine hilarity (a take on Richard's obsession with video games earns huge laughs), but the scatter-shot tendencies of the script threaten to break the movie wide open, especially during the somewhat unbelievable last act.

Much of the film's lack of credibility is due to its underdeveloped characters. Since the movie fails to explain the reasons behind most of Richard's immature behavior, the guy remains annoyingly unreasonable and his reactions more than a little unrealistic. The same problems exist with Etienne, who disappears after being dumped by his girl, only to reappear late in the game.

Unfortunately for Leo's fans, the love story is given the same spotty treatment. Other than both being the same high caliber of pretty people, there's little explanation as to why they develop a relationship, or why they eventually fall out of it.

The movie semi-succeeds purely on its visceral strengths. The "Trainspotting" team behind the production -- director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew MacDonald and screenwriter John Hodge -- knows how to keep things moving. Fancy tracking shots of distorted waterfalls, flashbacks and fast-forwards, and the unpredictable story line, make the film eminently watchable, even if it's through wincing eyes.

The actors soldier on bravely enough. They're all to fun watch, despite the incredible plot developments. Leo in particular, especially during a speech he delivers after a shark attack, remains a magnetic presence, although his character severely tests the limits of likeability and identification.

"The Beach" is best enjoyed as a garish piece of professional trash filmmaking, occupied front and center by a superstar playing the kind of ugly American rebel every parent loves to hate. It doesn't rank near the best work of either the star or the filmmakers, in projects such as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" and "Trainspotting," and it may not be as financially rewarding. But at least it isn't boring.

Top of the Page



A Review
By William P. Coleman

Richard is a young backpacker in Bangkok. He rooms next to a colorful, depressed character named Daffy Duck who commits suicide but leaves Richard a map showing the way to a remote island with the most beautiful, most undiscovered beach in the world. Richard invites a young French couple to go in search of it. They find paradise. But, there are problems.

The good news is that Leonardo DiCaprio is back. I get the idea that he did The Beach to show cynics like me that he hasn't vanished into being the screen idol of Titanic, that he's still the exceptionally gifted actor of Basketball Diaries and the taker of risky roles like Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

If this is what he wants me to think then he's succeeding.

His teen fans may be disappointed. He exposes his body generously, but not flatteringly. No infallible Jack Dawson, he's prickly and difficult.

He acts. Some actors may find it easy to assume a striking pose, but then they find it hard to move around. As he's shown us before, DiCaprio can put on a mask and vary it from scene to scene. From moment to moment he can make those flickers of the eye, those changes in expression, in the angle of the head that keep us cued in to the flow of meaning. He's a pleasure to watch.

John Hodge, who wrote the screenplay based on Alex Garland's impressive first novel, has talent. Scenes make their point without needing to be underlined. Later scenes are nicely intensified by foreshadowing in earlier ones. The script flows along. Still, it's weak as a whole: at the end a viewer will be able to state the meaning in a few sentences, but may be puzzled about how the film got there. The message seems too easily summarized and there doesn't seem to be any bone and sinew that makes it happen.

Danny Boyle, the director, also has talent -- as he showed in Trainspotting. Each shot is stunning, tweaked absolutely to the max. Each shot is as unpredictable, on arrival, as possible. Mr. Boyle shows exquisite judgment: each time, exactly how far can he stretch our comprehension and our sense of continuity without us rebelling, however aghast we may be? Isn't that what moviemaking is about?

Well, perhaps there are problems. The director, unaware, doesn't share the screenwriter's style, except in his failure to build a complete movie out of a series of impressive moments. How can the director signal us that something new is about to happen if every shot is an epiphany? How can he show us that the action in one shot is important if he hammers every shot and makes it, in turn, insignificant by the revelation following it?

A director's other job, besides getting the scenes on film, is making the scenes happen, especially in helping the actors to create their roles. The supporting actors in The Beach all seem good and likable, and not very special this time. None seems to have much to do. This, too, seems like a failure of directing. Even DiCaprio's acting at the end, which in a different film might seem bravura, comes off as grotesque because there's no context of meaning to support it.

Some viewers -- annoyed at constantly having their sleeves tugged by a director who doesn't have much to say -- may react negatively to The Beach. Some viewers may be too quick to notice the unintentional humor in it. Readers of Alex Garland's novel may feel positively betrayed.

Other viewers may enjoy it. I did. It has beautifully photographed exotic locales. It has a pleasant crowd of young actors. It has DiCaprio. It has an interesting premise and even some meaning -- provided you're up for the exercise of remaking it yourself as you go along.

Original Article

Top of the Page



MOVEES.com
By Jay Tierney

What is paradise? Does it really exist? These are the very questions at the core of The Beach, and the film makes for an interesting exploration. Most of us spend a majority of our time working or going to school, talking on the phone, shopping for clothes and food, depositing our paychecks at the bank, writing movie reviews on the internet (sorry, I couldn't resist) -- but what if there was a place where none of that was necessary? A place where you could spend most of your time in a state of relaxation and fun?

Based on the novel by Alex Garland, The Beach follows a twenty-something guy named Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), an American over-seas in search of something different. Fresh off a plane to Bangkok, he sets out to discover new experiences. He stays at a cheap hotel and shares a bizarre conversation with his intrusive neighbor Daffy (Robert Carlyle), who ends up leaving him a map to a secret beach that supposedly no one else knows about. Richard befriends his other two neighbors, Ettiene (Guillaume Canet) and his beautiful French girlfriend Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen), and they quickly set off to Thailand in search of paradise. The map turns out to be real, leading them to a small island that certainly seems like heaven on Earth, but it might not be. They join a small community of other travelers who were already living there, and they're desperate to stop more people from discovering the place. As in any movie, trouble quickly ensues.

The one thing The Beach certainly has going for it is its premise. The idea of discovering a hidden paradise and then trying to keep other people away so they can't exploit it is about as intriguing as a movie can get. The execution isn't nearly as satisfying, which explains why many critics trashed this film, but it's still somewhat easy to enjoy as long as you can ignore your expectations. There are a lot of entertaining scenes and situations, and also quite a bit of humor and suspense. In a few places the story becomes a bit muddled, but to me it was all part of the experience. Unfortunately, if the story had been reworked a little, The Beach could have been a spectacular film, but in the end it didn't come together quite like it should have (and it definitely had the potential). However, despite its flaws, I still enjoyed it.

By the end of the film, Richard doesn't seem to have very many redeeming qualities left. The fact that he isn't always the nicest person might bother some viewers, however, I thought it made the story less predictable. He often lies and weasels his way through certain situations, which doesn't necessarily make him a good person, but it does make him seem more like a real person. I sit through so many movies (good and bad) predicting what the main character will do and when he or she will do it, but The Beach kept me on my toes. I like the fact that DiCaprio took on a role where his character had just as many flaws as positive traits, rather than repeating his "I can do no wrong" persona from Titanic.

Probably the biggest star in this film (other than DiCaprio), is the stunning and beautiful cinematography. Director Danny Boyle and cinematographer Darius Khondji work well together, shooting a film that is quite effective in its portrayal of a tropical paradise, and parts of it border on the surreal. The cove where this film is located really does look like one of the most heaven-like places on Earth, and the fact that a few Thailand environmental groups accused the filmmakers of trashing the place is absurd (why would they destroy the area when they want it to look great?).

As for Leonardo DiCaprio's performance -- he really does carry this film. There are a few parts where he acts like an ass, which was actually a great aspect of his performance because people do act that way when they're secluded. After seeing this film, even the large group of Leo-bashers out there will probably have to admit that he's at least a decent actor. The Beach's supporting cast was also solid. Virginie Ledoyen was great in her part, playing a sharp and witty French girl instead of the typical naive bimbo that you might expect. Robert Carlyle nailed the part of a man gone crazy, and everyone else was sufficient in their roles -- never trying to out-do DiCaprio because essentially this is his movie.

If you want to enjoy The Beach, you will -- and if you want to hate it, you will. It doesn't actually provide a definitive answer to the question it raises (because there is no definitive answer), but it does leave us with the sentiment that paradise can only exist in a context and will never last forever. The Beach is more pop culture than social commentary, so if you watch this film looking for extreme depth -- you're not going to find it. I mostly recommend it to moviegoers under 35 and fans of Leonardo.

Original Article

Top of the Page



The London Telegraph

And, up on the screen, the opening is as electrifying as you have come to expect from Boyle: a threatening, cacophonous urban nightmare in Bangkok; a DiCaprio who flicks from charm to cockiness to edginess to terror in moments; a Robert Carlyle vignette that draws an immaculate bead on pyschopathic menace.

And then - well, it gets all slushy. Angelo Badalamenti's music is lush, and corny; Leo and Françoise make out voraciously in the moonlit sea; and life on the beach seems more a tundra of guitar-strumming, grass-smoking tedium than the faction-riven cult-like experience evoked in the book. (Understandable, perhaps; according to Boyle, 'I'm an urban person - I can't stand beaches or countryside.') In short, the film sags - and, thankfully, it picks up, dramatically. Madness - and the ghost of Robert Carlyle - comes to Leo; ugliness, jealousy, violence and Vietnam invade the screen, and the film grabs you by the throat. Flawed, then, but vaut le detour, and a good first hand to have played at the Big Table.

Top of the Page



Film Review - 4 out of 5 stars

Few films are afforded such negative publicity during production. But, in the wake of the phenomenal success of Titanic, all eyes were locked on DiCaprio. And the prognosis was not good. After turning down a slew of mouth-watering offers (notably American Psycho), the cherubic 24-year-old settled on The Beach, a mainly British production adapted from the novel by Alex Garland and produced by the team that brought us Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and A Life Less Ordinary. First of all, Ewan McGregor — disappointed that he was passed over for the lead — grumbled that, in the interests of commercialism, the central character had been changed from a Brit to a Yank. Then came the environmental honor stones. Apparently, the production had transformed a Thai paradise into a self-serving film set, uprooting rare grasses, bulldozing sand dunes and planting no less than 60 palm trees. However, according to producer Andrew Macdonald, he not only paid Thailand’s Forestry Commission £66,000 for permission to shoot there, but three tons of rubbish was removed from the site and, at considerable cost, the beach was returned to its former glory. In the interests of the story, the idyllic setting had to be just right For The Beach is a powerful polemic on the precarious politics of paradise....

.. Arriving in Bangkok, he turns his back on the comforts of home in favour of a run-down hostel and an opportunity to sample such local delicacies as snake’s blood. Then, during a surreal encounter with a drug-addled Scotsman (Carlyle), he learns of a secret paradise hidden by vertiginous cliffs and geographic isolation. Accompanied by a young French couple, our hero finds his island and, in turn, his true vocation — the pure pursuit of pleasure. Of course, this being a Danny Boyle film, Richard’s nirvana is not all that he had hoped it would be But then the very nature of Utopia is a figment of the imagination.....

Boasting a superlative production and a terrific script by John Hodge, The Beach is a gripping contemplation of the nature of our world and ourselves — and how we view both. DiCaprio himself, already looking older than he did in Titanic (and appearing more handsome than pretty), invests the part of Richard with gusto and is well supported by a largely unknown cast. And Angelo Badalamenti’s evocative, electronic score is another major plus.

Top of the Page



Total Film's Review - 3 out of 5 stars
By Dan Jolene

When the Boyle/Macdonald /Hodge crew turned Irvine Welsh’s cult-hit Trainspotting into a hugely celebrated multiplex-packer, they deftly proved that you can adapt an “unfilmable” book - and make the resulting movie a huge success.

The Beach is their second attempt at adaptation, but the difference is Alex Garland’s tropical thriller was always eminently filmable, given the twentysomething scribbler’s undeniably cinematic prose. Which is why it’s so surprising that The Beach isn’t, well, really that great...

Don’t get us wrong this is by no stretch of the imagination a bad film. The cinematography by Jeanette and Car (Delicatessen, City Of Lost Children) collaborator Dares Khondji, is wonderfully lush, the soundtrack —combining an Angelo Badalamenti score with tunes from the likes of Blur Leftfield and New Order — perfectly complements the photography and the central performances are spot-on.

Virginie Ledoyen’s made the leap from the French film scene to the Hollywood mainstream with a sparkling turn as Françoise, the mischievous Gallic backpackeress. Robert Carlyle, meanwhile (obviously on loan from the World Is Not Enough shoot), was the ideal choice for mashed-up paradise refugee, Daffy. DiCaprio also dexterously climbs into his character providing a timely reminder that his post-Titanic pin-up status shouldn’t cloud the fact that he’s still a very accomplished actor.

But the fact that a pretty young American — and a hugely famous one at that — was cast as a weirdo British traveller has, understandably caused some consternation among fans of the book. However the trio’s decision to make Richard a Yank actually works, reinforcing the character’s position as an outsider while providing him with a unique position within the Beach’s community. The problems arise when you scrutinise some of the other plot changes, and if you want to go in totally cold, you should probably skip the next paragraph.....

Firstly, the recreation of Richard as the island stud simply doesn’t work and sets up some unconvincing relationship dynamics with certain other characters. If Hodge did this to lend some dramatic thrust to the novel’s rather sluggish central section, then he’s unfortunately failed, as the movie still suffers from a lack of pace during the relatively uneventful second act. Furthermore, Richard’s slide into fantasy/insanity happens too late and too suddenly, thanks mainly to the cutting down of Daffy’s pivotal role and the complete removal of Jed, the Beach’s Nam-freaked ‘security’ man and, arguably, the novel’s strongest character. Still, Hodge at least manages to make the climax far more satisfying than Garland’s preposterously gory meltdown.

To be fair, The Beach does make for satisfying cinema and you’ll hardly feel let down by Boyle’s stylistically adventurous approach (try to ignore the embarrassing gameboy scene, though) The trouble is, it’s not exactly dazzling, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Britpack darlings will ever make anything as great or groundbreaking as Trainspotting, Shallow Grave.

Top of the Page



A Beach Review 4 out of 5 stars
By Lisa Robinson

Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), is a lost soul wandering through Thailand on his own. He's unlucky in love and eternally in search of his life goal, which he can't seem to establish or decide upon. He comes across Daffy (Robert Carlyle), who regales him with a story about an island paradise, warning him about mysterious sinister undertones which he doesn't delve into to deeply. DiCaprio, now with his appetite well and truly wet goes off and meets a pair of French tourists. After a little more wandering around, they find Daffy dead, they take his map to the island and the French couple take little hassling from DiCaprio and off they go (Obviously just leaving poor old Daffy to make his own way to the morgue).

Once arrived at the Island, they are bewildered by the beauty of it all. There are a group of really friendly people (hippies) already living the crazy life of lounging around all day and smoking pot. But also, as Daffy said the dangerous undertones are there in abundance, as these really sinister looking island guys with automatic weapons wandering around guarding the island, the hippies and all the drugs. The hippies, lead by Sal (Tilda Swinton) and her boyfriend realise they're a nice enough bunch and let the three stay. DiCaprio not gracious enough for what looks like his life goal achieved with idolent delights to boot. Decides to sleep with the French girl and his philandering charms rub off on Sal too, wasting no time jumping into her hammock. Even though DiCaprio doesn't get his comeuppance from either of the girls boyfriends, he does OD a little on too many drugs in the best scene of the movie. Going absolutely crazy, and before you know it his paradise is about to collapse around him. Two 'friends' DiCaprio knew back on the Mainland start spreading the word about, the location of the island is discovered and the guys with guns go mental and start shooting up the place. So we're are left with a customary roller-coaster ride of a movie for the final 35 minutes.

The Beach is comparable to Apocalypse Now, in that the main character is fighting a continual battle not to succumb to his surroundings. There's also the stunningly lavish cinematography, a pumping dance soundtrack and the delightfully dark plot (not quite film noir). It's adapted to a tee, from the enticing Alex Garland novel.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays it straight, venturing back to his marvellously underrated Basketball Diaries days and chucking his Romantic lead persona out the window to give an excellent, emotionally charged performance. He must relish playing the smoking teen-early 20 something and embodies the role of Richard, fitting in like a glove with the gloriously breathtaking scenery Thailand has to offer. Also look out because he's now sporting spiky hair, without those annoying golden strands falling into his eyes continuously. One thing I couldn't understand, was why Robert Carlyle's talent wasn't utilised more on screen. He shines superbly as the immensely off the wall Daffy, if only for a few minutes adding much needed character to the film. The rest of the supporting cast are rather bland, not helping DiCaprio and Boyle bring the text to life. With a little more emphasis on the other characters development, and maybe better casting this could have been more than just a vertuoso performance by DiCaprio. But maybe that's what Danny Boyle wanted to convay, who knows.

The French girl, Francoise (played by Virginie Ledoyen) is painfully dull and is obviously there for her beauty alone and her boyfriend (Guillaume Canet) gives a badly wooden, if spirited performance, but you can't blame him...he had nothing to work with. Tilda Swinton once again hams up her accent badly for the international audience. And as for DiCaprio wanting to bed her, the older woman? Think of Joanna Lumley and you've got the idea, we know we're definitely in a fantasy island paradise there.

Ok this isn't Oscar material but the highly acclaimed and talented Trainspotting and Shallow grave team, pull off their first Hollywood, big budget, all action, mystery, thriller, romance (or lack of it) rather well. So strip away all the bad press and environmental concerns that have plagued this movie since day one (after all it is only a movie), just go and enjoy watching a talented actor on top of his game.

Top of the Page



A Viewer's Review
By Michael Dequina

After the global phenomenon that was Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio truly was the "King of the World" (sorry, James Cameron), having the newfound power to choose whatever follow-up project he wanted--and at any price. But much like his co-star Kate Winslet, DiCaprio has shunned obvious blockbuster efforts and instead opted for more uncommercial works--such as Woody Allen's Celebrity and now The Beach, a stylish and unconventional drama that certainly won't earn him much favor with his fanbase of screaming teenage girls.

That demographic may appreciate the fact that The Beach gives the twentysomething DiCaprio ample opportunity to show off his shockingly pre-pubescent physique. Such flesh-baring may lead one to think that Danny Boyle's adaptation of Alex Garland's novel is a glamour project, but it isn't. In fact, I don't think that young female audience will otherwise find much interest with the fairly dark story of DiCaprio's Richard, an American on vacation in Thailand, who sets out to find a legendary island paradise along with a French couple (Virginie Ledoyen and Guillaume Canet). They succeed, only to find a secret society led by the mysterious Sal (Tilda Swinton), who, after some initial trepidation, welcomes the newcomers into the exclusive and self-sufficient community, which is sort of a perpetual beach resort.

The message of The Beach does not take long to come clear; it is rather obvious that reality will ultimately creep in and shatter the delusion of such a utopian lifestyle. The romantic subplot, involving Richard and Ledoyen's Françoise, never really catches fire. That fact is partly due to the screenplay by longtime Boyle collaborator John Hodge, which doesn't quite establish strong character foundations on the page, hence making some of Richard's late character turns feel arbitrary.

However, The Beach is a less a film about its narrative than its style, and as he has in the past (excepting his last film, the disastrous-on-all-levels A Life Less Ordinary), Boyle is able to engage the audience with his style when the script falters. His forays into surrealism are especially inspired, such as a strange scene where Richard's jungle adventures literally turn into a video game. This scene was met with much derisive laughter from the audience with whom I saw the film, but it is actually a rather inventive way to show how immaturely and lightly he takes such a real and serious situation. Boyle is ably supported by cinematographer Darius Khondji, who makes the beach as impossibly beautiful as it should be.

Adding immeasurably to The Beach's watchability is, indeed, DiCaprio. His teen idol status may be the primary reason he gets so much ink in the press now, but his talent will keep his name in the memory for years to come. The Beach is certain to fail at the box office (I can see the headlines now--"Leo's Post-Titanic Bellyflop"), but it further proves DiCaprio to be an interesting and boldly risk-taking actor--even if the risks don't always completely pay off.

Original Article

Top of the Page



Maxim Magazine's Review
By John DeVore

Leonardo DiCaprio could star in a film where he eats cans of Vienna sausages for two hours and millions of teen girls would swallow their retainers in anticipation. But he takes a refreshing risk in The Beach, his follow up to that movie about the boat. It’s a darkly entertaining travelogue that’s equal parts Gilligan’s Island and Apocalypse Now.

Brought to the screen by the Trainspotting team, The Beach follows American Richard (DiCaprio) to Bangkok. This tourist is looking for excitement and adventure, which he finds when appropriately named Daffy (Robert Carlyle) appears with a secret map to paradise. Richard convinces a pair of French tourists, including Françoise (the stunning Virginie Ledoyen), to make the journey to a secluded island and discover its secrets: hostile marijuana farmers and a community of well-oiled beach bums who populate the gorgeous tropical setting.

But what happens when you put so many beautiful people with such great skin in an island paradise? They play too much beach volleyball and eventually fuck things up. DiCaprio abandons his squeaky clean image in this movie and gets seriously unhinged, giving Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz a run for his jungle crazy–bug eatin’–head choppin’ money. Toss aside your winter duds, grab your girl, and head for The Beach.

Original Article

Top of the Page



Empire Review: 4/5
By Angie Errigo

Boy finds paradise, boy loses it, boy gets alarming awakening, in the Trainspotting team's adaptation of Alex Garland's novel.

Getting away with it all on an unspoilt tropical beach is not the idyll of your lottery winning dreams in this unnerving drama of a hidden Eden where obsessive travellers disassociate from the world.

DiCaprio is backpacker Richard, who thinks he'd worldly-wise, but is so "the young American abroad" when he seeks adventure and danger in Thailand. A strange encounter with crazed Daffy (Robert Carlyle), who rants of a perfect, secret beach, seems the travel tip for him. And he recruits a French girl he fancies rotten (Ledoyen) and her amiable boyfriend (Guillaume Canet) to join him on a mysterious, funny, scary journey to the spectacularly beautiful (take a bow, cinematographer Darius Khondji) haven.

There Sal (Swinton) holds sway over a community of drop-outs who are kind of a cross between the Swiss Family Robinson and an apocalyptic water sport cult. Like Garland's novel, the film will be compared with Lord of the Flies as the absence of societal constraints and concerns creates a moral vacuum for wild things to rumpus mightily. The Beach is more a microcosm of the modern world, though, with a more experienced gang and their alternative attempts to connect with one another riven by their secrets, desires, jealousies and competitiveness. They import their own serpents into this paradise.

Richard is more than a little disturbed, as we learn from a voiceover that borders on intrusive but underlines his alienation. His fixation with 'Nam movies could be spelled out more clearly to explain his solitary stint in the jungle turning into a pathological commando game, Heart Of Darkness for the Saga generation.

DiCaprio's perfect as the smartarsed thrill-seeker and the more wry narrator with hindsight, but he works very hard for his reputed $20 million fee when required to turn into a bug-eating nutter. Despite the dodginess of this interlude, however, Boyle's direction holds a true line between allure and horror, and Hodge's script is intriguing and forceful. It's much better than rumoured: entertaining, engrossing, and ripe for discussion --- somewhere civilised --- afterwards.

Top of the Page

Roughcut:

If Apocalypse Now had been set during peacetime, The Beach would be the result. What that means is that you have a guy, Leonardo DiCaprio, who discovers a tropical paradise and then goes postal... for no apparent reason. There's no unbridled chaos of war or slaughtering of innocent people to sustain Leo's loose screws. So when he starts carving bamboo traps and spying on heavily armed natives guarding a vast marijuana field, it comes across as unbelievable and shallow. In fact, it's such an abrupt shift, it's like watching two different movies. The first hour is an enjoyable adventure flick filled with interesting ideas and postcard-ready shots of paradise. The titular beach really is stunning. But the second hour is an incomprehensible mess that's too dark for Leo's Teen People fanbase and too convenient for the arthouse crowd. The Trainspotting team (director Danny Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald) would have fared better had they given their lead character a better reason to fall from Eden. Getting dumped by your girlfriend and worrying that a group of surfers may expose your paradise are not valid reasons to cue Wagner. Casting usual lead Ewan McGregor would have also scored points. He conveys a far better sense of buried danger than a pretty boy like Leo who did nothing but beef up and whiten his teeth for the role.

Top of the Page

Next Page >>

Back to Main Menu