A Disaster From Start To Finish

Rating: 2/10 (24 February 2001)

Leonardo DiCaprio successfully sheds his "Titanic" image in this account of a young American tourist who stumbles upon an idyllic island paradise while on vacation in Thailand, only to discover that paradise ain't all that it's supposed to be. Unfortunately, the same can be said for this movie. It's terrible in almost every respect.
The premise is hardly unique. For years the idea of discovering paradise only to be disappointed with what you find has been the theme of novels, stage plays, movies. The closest analogy for this movie might be that it's kind of a "Lord Of The Flies" with adult characters. But the really surprising thing is that such a well-worked plot could be burdened with such an absolutely incoherent story line, which repeatedly falls into ridiculous and juvenile silliness. And the ending makes no sense at all. Why in the world would the "dope farmers," who have already demonstrated that they are willing to kill to prevent more people from coming to their island, then simply pack the inhabitants of the village up and send them back to civilization? Now there's a good way to keep the island a secret! Certainly one wouldn't expect originality in this kind of story, perhaps, but it should still be interesting! Trust me, it's not!
The movie features some good photography and beautiful scenery - which barely manages to raise it from a 1 to a 2 in my books. Aside from that, "The Beach" is a monotonous disaster all the way through. Do not waste your time on it. You will regret your decision.