very enjoyable

Rating: Null/10 (7 December 2004)

I refused to watch this film for so long as it was recommended to me whilst i did an English project about 'lord of the flies', which i strongly disliked. however seeing this film advertised to be on the bbc i decided that i would give it a go (probably because i as bored stiff). The only other thing that turned me away from this film at first was the casting of Leonardo di caprio, i enjoyed his performance in 'basketball diaries' but his other later work on films such as 'titanic' and 'the man in the iron mask' made me think he had out grown his talent and become very wooden. The beach returned my liking of leo, may be he is a talented actor, or may be he is just good at playing absolute nutters. his character was very likable as he descended to madness due to the beach being far to beautiful. And the love interest in francoise (the actress name escapes me) was dealt with impeccably by the writer/director. The actress was both convincing and beautiful, every thing the script asked of her. Although some cgi work with sharks is very poor, to the standard of the 3d jaws film, the director captures tohe moment very well and u cna get passed the weak special effects. the film was very enjoyable as i could relate to the characters, especially when leo comments on the fact when u have a crush everything they do seems interestin, even though it is actually very dull. Robert carlyle is excellent as ever, and so are the rest of the cast. i recommend this to everyone who hasn't seen it, especially if u have any preconceptions stopping u from watching this. 4/5