Didn't Know What to Expect; It Wasn't This... And That's Okay

Rating: 6/10 (16 July 2006)

For some reason I thought "The Beach" was about nuclear disasters or something... not sure why. In reality, the film is about an island where a group of people live away from the world (to an extent, though they hypocritically rely on civilization for supplies)... for some unknown reason undiscovered by mainlanders or airplanes, though they are only a few miles from other people.
While the film had some flaws, overall it was really good, I guess. Leonardo DiCaprio is a decent actor, under-rated by many people, I think. His "survival mode" where he learns to become one with nature was really cool and reminded me of "First Blood", only with a better-looking actor.
The infamous video game sequence was not exactly what I expected, and was actually far more cheesy than I assumed. But funny, really funny. Whoever had the idea to put this in the film really had a stroke of genius that day.
The makeup and special effects department deserved an Oscar for their work. I have seen plenty of horror films and love "Jaws"... but the shark attack wounds in this film were so believable I could hardly breathe. Amazing work.
All the scenes with Daffy were great. Somewhat gritty and very morbid, I was sucked into this film after the first gruesome scene with him. Excellent visuals. And when we return to this scene a few more times later, it is absolutely excellent. Unlike "Catch-22", these returns to the same scene really drive the point home of Leo's state of mind.
The beach scenes were also excellent as far as getting across the point of this being a place that was pure, clean and untouched by man. White sands, clear water... don't know if this was special effects or just a great location, but well played.
My only two complaints are concerning the sex scene and the over-acting. I was rather confused by the scene between Richard and Sal... if he has a girlfriend, why is he sleeping with the nastiest woman on the island? I just don't get it. That was a poor idea and I found it hard to believe Richard was that stupid... but maybe he was.
Also, the over-acting was atrocious. When they first encounter the beach, everyone gets super-pumped. Um, okay... it's a beach. Yeah, it's a really nice beach, but they've been living on islands covered in beaches. It's not a miracle. And when Richard tells of his shark adventure. everyone thinks it's the greatest thing since rye bread and he even tells it in an epic manner. Yeah, alright, it was pretty exciting, but not that exciting. These people need to lay off the crack pipe.
But I liked the movie, and if you like Leo you should like this movie. It's a metaphor for teenagers, I think... how they believe they're independent, but really they're not and in reality they're helpless and stupid.