The film represents a reunion of the Shallow Grave/Trainspotting/A Life Less Ordinary trio of director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge, which makes it more disapointing....
The Beach is divided into two sections. The first, which comprises two-thirds of the running time, is a fairly straightforward adventure/romance. It’s all very Blue Lagoon-ish, with the flora and fauna consistently overshadowing the paper-thin characters. Even a silly rubber shark has more personality than half the men and women populating this movie. The last 40 minutes aren’t merely dissatisfying - they’re virtually unbearable. And, in the end, it all seems to signify nothing.
In the director’s chair, Boyle never seems to hit his stride. His previous films have been offbeat and kinetic, with Trainspotting earning its label of a ’’tour de force.’’ In The Beach, Boyle misses the mark and ends up mired in chaos. Aside from the video game sequences (which have a digital-like DiCaprio figure making his way through the forest, amazing a score as he goes), Boyle rarely tries anything innovative. I also wish there was somebody more mature than Leonardo (like Patrick Swayze ..remember POINTBREAK)
Apparently, he fought with Fox about the film’s direction, and, although he won that battle, he lost the war. The Beach, which is passably deteriorates rapidly through the climax and denouncement.
Now U must be wondering why I reccomend this movie despite criticising it so much...well thats because of personal reasons. Half the movie Leo is living my fantasies . Things I always dream of ...like traveling too far away beautiful places alone or with a companion like a backpacker. As Leo remarks in the movie when he notices people watching TV in the hotel that isn’t strange, people travel so much to new places only to watch tv in their hotel rooms instead of discovering what the place is all about & discovering ur self maybe :).
This film starts off strong, slows down considerably during its median and just goes kinda cooky in the end. But on the positive side, this movie was packed with gorgeous shots of places that we all wish we were at right now, moves smoothly along the film’s soundtrack which had some great trance music. The 15 - 20 mins in the island when there is peace & harmony all around was pure heaven.
It’s actually pretty hard to define the type of movie goer that would thoroughly enjoy this film. It’s not terrible, but it was a disappointment in the end. The beginning was cracking but it really tailed off, and I really couldn’t care less at the end. The saving grace in the last part was when Richard downloads the picture of the whole camp off the computer. It is really uplifting after a depressing last 30 minutes.
This movie sparked a sense of much realism in those who seek love and adventure. The first half was one of the best 30 mins of cinema of the year 2000.