Review of The Beach (2000) by Harry F — 01 Jan 2011

This film is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. With 19% approval, I was expecting something fairly awful, but this was pretty solid. In my opinion, Danny Boyle just does not make bad films. Each of his films has a certain energy, with pounding soundtracks and kinetic cameras. DiCaprio was okay in this film, not amazing, but gradually getting better along the way. None of the supporting cast, bar the main girl and love interest, and British Patterson Joseph, really do much to stand out, but overall it carries along nicely. One main point of interest is defintely the scenery. If you can't appreciate anything else, you can enjoy the fabulous cinematography, some of the best I've seen.

This isn't perfect, and there a few weaknesses. We never really get a sense that the island is worse than it seems, bar one scene where an injured man is left alone. Other than that, there isn't really any doom or lurking danger; it's fairly ordinary. I also didn't care for the hallucinations and flashbacks, mostly involving Robert Carlyle, who wasn't in the film enough to do anything. They involve lots of shouting and its pretty unintelligible.

This film isn't bad at all. It's not a classic, it barely scrapes good, but it is not a bad film, and for fans of DiCaprio or Boyle, it should be seaked out.