The Beach

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2005)

From director Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) this is a great adventure thriller. Based on the bestselling novel by Alex Garland, the story basically involves backpacker Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio, Boyle's first choice was Ewan McGregor) seeks adventure in Thailand, and he eventually finds it with drug-crazed Daffy (Robert Carlyle). He tells him of a secret tropical beach, and after killing himself leaves him a map, that Richard copies for some guys he met. He then rounds up two friends, Françoise (Virginie Ledoyen) and her boyfriend Etienne (Guillaume Canet). They travel by boat for half the journey and swim the rest, after landing on the island, they escape some troops who own the near marijuana field, jump off high rock to water, and meet Keaty (Paterson Joseph). The island's leader Sal (The Chronicles of Narnia's Tilda Swinton) allows them to stay, as long as they do not go back and tell others, and after settling in and being accepted, they become very accustomed to the paradise (who wouldn't). Richard also gets closer to both Françoise and Sal behind boyfriends' backs, and even survives a shark attack. The paradise starts to crumble though, after more people start to come, and they also die from shark attack, this is when Richard rebels and hides from everyone, in his madness/depression, he even sees himself talking to dead Daffy. The paradise ends when after finding out about more people coming to the island, the troops force them off the island, and all try to go back to some sort of normal life, but they all have their memories of the good times on the island. Also starring Lars Arentz Hansen as Bugs and Daniel York as Hustler. The adventure is a lot of fun, DiCaprio is very good, most characters have their own lovable qualities, the big visual moments, e.g. surreal, are fantastic, the cinematography of the tropical beach is magnificent, and the soundtrack is fantastic, including All Saints' "Pure Shores" and Moby's "Porcelain". Leonardo DiCaprio was number 94 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Robert Carlyle was number 17 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, and Tilda Swinton was number 44 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses. Very good!