It Could Have Been Better

Rating: 6/10 (13 February 2000)

The Beach has a lot going for it - stunning photography, great music, a pretty good story - but in the end it fails to be more than light entertainment. The main fault is Leonardo di Caprio's inappropriateness for the role of Richard - an edgy, thrill-seeking Englishman in the book, a nice middle-class American boy in the movie. The character doesn't develop and Leo seems to have settled on three or four expressions that will do on all occasions. Tilda Swinton and especially Robert Carlyle act rings around Leo, bringing the movie briefly to life when they're on the screen.