Weak and disappointing

Rating: Null/10 (18 February 2002)

"The Beach" left me cold. I remember, upon release, that it was mostly being touted as a vehicle to show the then king-of-the-world Leonardo DiCaprio's talents. It failed to do that, and failed to be much of a movie.
Richard (DiCaprio) is ambling around the world, trying to find himself as he visits place after place. It's only when he stumbles across a wild eyed-man, Daffy (Robert Carlyle), that he gets a chance when he receives a map to "paradise" - an un-spoilt beach on a remote island. Off he goes to discover it with his friends and, lo and behold, some disasters strike along the way. Didn't see that coming did we?
The acting isn't great. DiCaprio was, a bit unfairly, nominated for "Worst Actor" at the Golden Razzies here, but his performance is weak, much as it wasn't great in "Titanic" either. He can do a lot better - "The Basketball Diaries", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" and "This Boy's Life Life all showed that - and yet here it's his torso, prominently on display, that does the most acting. Noone else caught my attention, the closest being Tilda Swinton for her performance as the power-freak Beach community leader Sal.
The script left a whole lot to be desired. Oh look paradise is spoilt by the only true evil - man. How unoriginal. As the community starts to fall apart, because Sal is desperate to maintain it's secrecy, the whole script and movie begins to fall apart to. For relatively no decent reason, Leo's character goes mad and decides to stomp around the island by himself and perform painful allusions to the infinitely superior "Apocalypse Now". In the end Hollywood doesn't fail us by, once again, informing us that the Western way of life is THE ONLY WAY to live properly and be content. Grr...
But perhaps the biggest disappointment is the direction by Danny Boyle. He did the rather excellent "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting" - the two best British movies of the '90s. I forgave him "A Life Less Ordinary", thinking it was a blip in his career, but this movie makes me fear the man has run out of steam. There is a complete lack of tension throughout the movie - in both the shark scenes I never felt threatened, nor did I care what was transpiring. It was so lazily I knew exactly what was going to happen. The "Apocalypse Now" segments were heavy handed and poorly executed - from slowly rotating fans to Leo rising out of the water. The sound-track was weak - dancing thumping music set against idyllic island scenery? What?! It's fine for a culture movie like "Trainspotting" but it jars here. There's many other weak directorial moments here - the highlight being a god-awful video game moment. *Shiver*.
"The Beach" is by no means the worst movie ever and passes the time, but it is not a good movie. I'm disappointed in diCaprio and Boyle - they've done better, so why this? You may grit your teeth and sit through the movie, but why not read a book instead or see one of many better movies? 4/10