Interesting, but slow and derivative

Rating: Null/10 (13 February 2000)

About 30 years ago, this film might have been really powerful and innovative. However, even though it is interesting, it is a slow-moving derivation of just too many other films, among others APOCALYPSE NOW, LORD OF THE FLIES, TREASURE ISLAND, LOST HORIZON, JAWS, WELCOME TO WOOP WOOP, TARZAN, THE DEER HUNTER, and yes, even THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. So that the audience gets the point, we see a scene from APOCALYPSE NOW in the movie.
Leo is good in his tanned, buffed form as he searches for the cure to relieve himself of "civilization" much as Huck Finn once did. Swinton is interesting as a female Buddha in a Bali Ha'i that is supposedly paradise. But humans always lose Eden, and Christo must die for our sins again.
The film fits into Leo's canon of off-beat films and certainly is not another TITANIC. It is interesting, but one wonders why such a derivative film was needed right now. It does make an important point about ecology, but at the same time, even that isn't a new theme. If you want to see Leo and the Thai scenery, see it. If you don't want to see a conglomeration of the above-mentioned films, don't.