Danny Boyle Gumbo

Rating: 6/10 (13 February 2000)

What's disappointing about The Beach isn't the cinematography, which is great, or the plot, which is okay, or the acting, which is good. It's the trailer. Have you seen this thing? It makes the movie out to be some fast-paced, thrill-a-minute, will they make it out alive fright-fest. And it is absolutely none of those things.
The movie is about American traveller named Richard. Played very well by Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard stumbles across a map that reveals the location of some perfect little island, a paradise, if you will, and being an impetuous and free-willed young man, Richard decides to go there, accompanied by a young French couple that he has only just met.
On this island are two things: 1) enough marjuana to keep all of Ann Arbor busy for a few months, and 2) drug dealers. Barely escaping the drug dealers, our protagonists manage to find the other half of the island, which is populated by kind and reserved people who have decided to reject the outside world and create a perfect little society on this gorgeous island that virtually nobody else knows about.
This community has a long-standing pact with the kind-hearted drug dealers. They co-exist in peace as long as they tell nobody else about the island. Everybody's happy.
The plot doesn't have much going for it, other than it is a vehicle for some pretty heavy sociological/philosophical messages. But despite the scanty use of conflict in the film, the movie as a whole is fairly entertaining. Directed by Danny Boyle, The Beach has a lot of the same sort of stuff that can be found in Boyle's other works. It has the same gritty sound and speed as Trainspotting, but it also has the confusing and out-of-place weirdism of A Life Less Ordinary. In fact, even though I give this movie a cozy two thumbs up, there are three problems with it that may bother more discriminating viewers.
1. A forced love story. Anyone who knows movies knows that all producers want some sort of love interest in their movie. It gets the attention of the female viewership. In many cases, this is pulled off without a hitch. In the case of The Beach, it is almost as if they made the entire movie and then, as a second-thought, realized they needed some kissin', and so they dumped in a horribly contrived and emotionally weak romance between Leo and the young French lady. 2. An unnecessary soul-quest, a la Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors. At some point, Leo goes crazy for fifteen or twenty minutes as he wanders about the jungle. This has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the film. It's like a commercial for insanity. 3. The final moral of the movie is imparted by the kindhearted ring-leader of the drug dealers, who doesn't just vocalize the moral, but delivers it Solomon-style: with this obscure and insightful test of the hidden resort leader's faith. Although this is plausible in Danny Boyle's world, I doubt the drug dealer's would have imparted anything to the head-strong island citizens other than a volley of bullets. But, then again, I'm not an expert on drug dealers.