The Beach Reviews

What have you done to a Masterpiece story?

Danny Boyle and Hollywood have a lot to answer for after butchering Alex Garland’s modern classic!

First off DiCaprio hams up the character of Richard. This I don’t understand. He is great in so many films! "Basket Ball Diaries", "What’s eating Gilbert grape", "Gangs of New York" and the list goes on. I think it was just awful casting, as the whole point of the Richard's character was that he was a geek! Spotty, ginger geek! That had more chance of loosing his eyesight from shaking hands with the governor of love than pulling the “love interest” in the story. But give a story to Hollywood and watch them disfigure it almost as much as the moviemakers did to the beach in Thailand to make the film!

It’s a shame, because there is so much potential there but it all fails to be delivered in this popcorn “oh isn’t Leo cute with his top off” trash!

There is one redeeming feature in that Robert Carlyle puts in a sterling performance as Daffy. One to avoid if you have read the book or if you actually like good films!

Not the same story as the book

Have you read the book? If so - please do not disappoint yourself by watching this film. Instead of a british actor playing Richard - its played by 'Mr USA Pretty Boy himself' Leonardo DiCaprio! I'm not knocking him - he's a pretty good actor..... but he is definately NOT british and that is 95% of the main character.... his typical british-ness.

Further - in this version of the story, for some kinda insane reason Richard and Francoise get together... WHAT? WHY? HOW? I hear you asking... I mean - in the original story its totally clear that Richard fancies the pants off her - but the fact that he is good friends with her boyfriend means (in the classic British way) that he forces himself to ignore or rather not act on, his feelings. Well I have no explanation for this pointless twist to the original story.

At the end of the book is a harsh, and I really do mean HARSH scene where all the people living on the beach have a festival and things go horribly wrong (its a damn hard part of the book to read without cringing in my opinion), and this is changed / dumbed down / etc in this film - which is a real shame as its a hard hitting part of the story.

All in all - if you have not read the book you may well enjoy this film. In truth I might have enjoyed it, once making the decision that it was not the story I was expecting. However - if you have read and (as I do) love the book - then you might just want to pass on this film.... maybe go and re-read!

Good Effort

I absolutely loved this book so had to see the film but as ever it can't live up to how you imagine it and they miss a lot out. Good effort but I really would reommend the book by Alex Garland.

trouble in paradise

Okay, i'm going to review this in two parts. Part one is everything up to around 1hr 20mins.

This film is the ultimate fantasy trip. It's not very often the ambition, drive and possibilities of the human spirit are represented so realistically and enjoyably. Leonardo lives the life that most optimists/idealists ALMOST dare to live on numerous occassions. He goes away, leaving everyone he knows behind; to case the promised land.

On arriving in Thailand, he finds a new mission; a secret Island. This is pure fantasy and you are whisked off into a wonderful journey which Danny Boyle takes us on smoothly.

The reason we watch films is from escapism, and this film does it perfectly.

Now part 2. everything after 1hr 20min.

I'm not sure who to blame, so i'll blame Danny Boyle. Visually, he's a brilliant director but his storytelling leaves a lot to be desired. Think of '28 days later', that was a perfect film until about 3/4 through when everything gets silly. Here in The Beach; the story is masterful and played/directed with perfection.. until that 1hr 20min point.. it's as if Boyle feels he isn't being daring enough, or that the writers wanted some hollywood conflict to keep things rolling. Hence we get a predictable and seemingly pointless conflict between Di Caprio and his fellow friends on the Island, Di Caprio has given the secret away.. and then everything goes a little mad, and Di Caprio loses his mind before getting it back in time for a nice lovely finish. Bleh, and they were doing so well.

What they should have realised, is the film was already daring and original enough. It had taken us viewers on an amazing journey into the unknown, into a place we all dream of finding, i.e. a heaven on earth. This journey is perfect, but the conflict seems less natural than when Vampires turned up in 'From Dusk Till Dawn'

Overall; yes. I enjoyed it. I recommend renting it, but for me it lost it's way toward the end.

dan

dj152@aol.com

Go Shark go.

I wish the shark won.

Didn;t get around to reading the book so just had to see the film! - a dream place to live with only a few chosen who know how to get there. Good strong characters and a plausable story line - Great!

Not worth it!

After reading the book I was really eager to see this film, but it did not live up to my expectations. The story changed considerably and the main character (Leonardo Di Caprio) was dislikable. Maybe if you haven't read the book the film would seem better.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A provocative film about life

'The Beach' is a clever movie, talking about the bigger questions of life. Is there really paradise or perfection on this Earth? Can it be attained in this life? Is it something secular? All of these questions are tackled metaphorically, and, I must say, it is achieved rather well. The performances are strong, especially by DiCaprio; his finest performance, in my opinion, other than 'Titanic'. This is a refreshing movie that is different in every sense: the subject, cinematography and dialogue. The only thing that I found to be its downfall was that, on the larger scale, there isn't really any 'story', as it were, to the movie. Many things are left unexplained. Nevertheless, this one is still well worth a watch, if only for its magnificent scenery!

BRILLIANT. WATCH THIS FILM

The best thing about this film is that it is just different enough from the book that you can still enjoy the suspense but you can also regognise situations.

Beautiful scenery,if you want to see a good example of Thailand before the Tsunami this is the film to watch. It really makes you want to go to the beach.

The acting was superb and you really felt for the characters, Leo di Caprio was exellent again as Richard.

The writing and script were wonderful and if you enjoy the film you should definitly check out the book which is even better(if thats possible)

Good film

I really enjoyed this film.

If you haven't read the book you should watch this. It's about a boy traveller who wants to find the ultimate travelling experience - a beach that few people discover, a paradise which has it's own rules.

It's tense, fun and sad.