The Beach Reviews

This journey down the hippy trail from the Trainspotting team takes a tour round the mind of Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young backpacker seeking adventure in Thailand, who gets more than he bargained for when drug-crazed madman Daffy (Robert Carlyle) tells him the location of a secret beach. Controversial during its production, the movie garnered headlines in the press for allegedly causing environmental damage to Phi Phi island, attention that did much to increase its public awareness. John Hodge's clever, witty script, based on Alex Garland's bestselling novel, keeps the narrative firmly on track, leaving director Danny Boyle ample room to luxuriate in the region's visual delights. With DiCaprio giving his most mature, multilayered performance to date, and French actress Virginie Ledoyen a great find as the love interest, The Beach achieves the near impossible by evoking in us the same feelings of longing and regret experienced by the film's characters.

"... [DiCaprio] goes APOCALYPSE NOW Brando, launching the most inspired sequence of this ambling meditation on paradise and innocence lost..."

Fitfully engaging tale of an expulsion from paradise, hampered by being too obviously fitted around the requirements of its star.

This journey down the hippy trail from the Trainspotting team takes a tour round the mind of Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young backpacker seeking adventure in Thailand, who gets more than he bargained for when drug-crazed madman Daffy (Robert Carlyle) tells him the location of a secret beach. Controversial during its production, the movie garnered headlines in the press for allegedly causing environmental damage to Phi Phi island, attention that did much to increase its public awareness. John Hodge's clever, witty script, based on Alex Garland's bestselling novel, keeps the narrative firmly on track, leaving director Danny Boyle ample room to luxuriate in the region's visual delights. With DiCaprio giving his most mature, multilayered performance to date, and French actress Virginie Ledoyen a great find as the love interest, The Beach achieves the near impossible by evoking in us the same feelings of longing and regret experienced by the film's characters.

"... [DiCaprio] goes APOCALYPSE NOW Brando, launching the most inspired sequence of this ambling meditation on paradise and innocence lost..."

Fitfully engaging tale of an expulsion from paradise, hampered by being too obviously fitted around the requirements of its star.

"...Wonderfully lush....[The soundtrack] perfectly complements the photography, and the central performances are spot-on..."

Richard (DiCaprio) finds a treasure map in which 'X' marks the location of the backpacker's Holy Grail: a virgin beach... read more on Time Out

"...THE BEACH is colorful and exciting....DiCaprio delivers strongly..."