Great film with a brilliant story!

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2000)

Though I do prefer the novel for The Beach, I quite enjoyed the film as well. It was a mistake to hype it as a blockbuster return for DiCaprio, though, as it has the feel of an indie movie, which I prefer.
The lead character, Richard, is someone we can all identify with. And we see a wide range of emotions, from adventurous to bordering on insanity, romance to fear. And DiCaprio pulls it off with ease. Definitely in his proper place doing a darker character with plenty of twists and turns.

Viginie Ledoyen was excellent as Francoise. I look forward to seeing more of her work.
The direction was excellent, and the cinematography breathtaking!
After seeing footage of what the beach they filmed on looked like originally, and comparing it to how it looked once they were done, I would think the Thai's would be happy! It was littered and obviously uncared for prior to all the hard work this team put into it.
If you are into movies with great story, interesting characters, and not all the Hollywood hoopla, this is your movie!