Visually effective, but lacks narrative conflict and character structure. *1/2 out of ****.

Rating: 4/10 (10 March 2000)

THE BEACH / (2000) *1/2
Rated R (for strong language, violence, sexuality, and drug use).

According to many intelligent screenwriters, directors, and us critics, conflict is the basis of all drama. If there is no problem for the main character to solve or something for him or her to achieve, there is no purpose for the character's state of being. Without character we can have no story. Without story we can have no movie. The new sexy, glamorous novel adaptation from "Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle, runs into that rare, insidious flaw: other than some irrelevant singular character tensions, there isn't much conflict in its plot. The film primarily consists of a slew of related events placed side by side. Thus, many of the scenes do not propel the story forward. The conclusion doesn't even know where to commence because there is nothing to explicate.
The filmmakers cast Leonardo DiCaprio as a young American traveler named Richard, who, as the movie opens, arrives in Thailand in quest for an adventure that can't be found in the common tourist locations. We don't know a whole lot about Richard except that he is a drifter named Richard. He rationalizes in the premise that nothing else matters, an extremely lazy method for the writers to escape character development. In reality, background information does indeed matter, and for us to care about him, we need to know more.
Early in the movie, Richard meets an erotically appealing French woman, Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen), and her boyfriend, Etienne (Guillaume Canet). Soon afterwards, he stumbles upon a pot smoking, insane individual named Daffy. This strange person rambles about a paradise-like island that unseen by most people. Richard believes little this man states, but the next morning he discovers Daffy has killed himself and left him a map leading to this mysterious beach. He asks Francoise and Etienne to travel with him to the island . They accept his invitation.
Robert Carlyle doesn't get to do much in this movie but contribute essential plot information required to move the story along. The narrative line uses his character, Daffy, later in the story when Richard slowly becomes disillusioned on the island. This theme of action is effective and developed with strong emotional depth.
Once on the island, after discovering that a small potion is run by rigged drug farmers, Richard, Etienne and Francoise meet a secluded group of villagers who have permanently settled there, away from all the worlds' troubles. This picture perfect location is loosely led by a young woman named Sal (Tilda Swinton).
The island's beach is truly paradise. The atmosphere is beautifully luxuriant. The filmmakers choose the perfect location for this movie, creating the right visual style. Also contributing to the successful island concepts: the characters develop the place with colorful, momentum building dialogue and pleasant oral description. Because of these measures the writers take with the importance of creating a paradise island, our imaginations are nurtured to believe both internally and visually that this place is almost a heaven.
A conflict "The Beach" runs into is the attempt to fit too much material in one 119 minute movie. It tires to provide us with an illicit love story between the lustful Richard and the attractive Francoise. Thus Etienne provides us with some romantic competition. It also attempts providing us with a secret love affair between Richard and Sal, creating a villain, her boyfriend Bugs. We are also in an adventure film about the findings of drifters. The patrons also enters the mind of a young man whose mind becomes overtaken by his primal instincts. Also, the story about several young American travelers who behold a copy of a map to the island, threatening the native's existence. The plot with the foreign pot smugglers who murder people with assault rifles. We learn of the results of a shark attack and the pains the victims bring upon the group. The list goes on and on. If only the writers would have chosen a concrete subject and expanded on it rather than colliding a dozen different plots, we may have had a better movie.
I really enjoyed the visual style in "The Beach" that is militant and creative. It uses neat camera angles and cinematography to its advantage. Leonardo DiCaprio contributes to film's mood. He performs with the necessary dramatic tensions that fulfil narrative requirements, although his obvious narration ends up explaining much of the story to us.
Within the struggling situations of "The Beach" lay some very deserving potential. If only the filmmakers would have used the God given gift of imagination, something this movie lacks. In a picture half as good as "The Beach," the destructive flaw would be found within the film's conflict, not the lack of conflict being the destructive flaw.
Brought to you by Twentieth Century Fox Productions.