Good, but with blemishes.

Rating: 7/10 (14 February 2000)

When all's said and done, this is a good movie.
Unfortunately, it's not *quite* top ten material.
I like Leonardo Di Caprio - I have ever since Romeo and Juliet, although I've never seen Titanic (don't hit me!). In _The Beach_, he is good - his acting was definitely up to standard. However, there is a sequence in the middle of the movie where Danny Boyle (the director) seems to lose the plot a little.
Something happens to Di Caprio's mind (I'm not going to say what), but we're never really given an adequate explanation for it. It's like twenty minutes of the film was left on the cutting room floor.
Having said that, it's an interesting take on the _Lord of the Flies_ theme. Rather than order descending into chaos and savagery, it's more a movie about what happens when there's too much order, and people become unable to give that order, that comfort, up. What happens when you're too scared to leave your comfort zone? Well, watch this movie and you'll find part of that answer out.
Altogether good, but not great. A seven and a half.