DiCaprio has shifted from giving performance -- and often good performance -- to giving persona, and The Beach is nothing if not a vehicle engineered for that shift.
The Beach (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:114
Fresh:22
Rotten:92
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Critics say The Beach is unfocused and muddled, a shallow adaptation of the novel it is based on. Points go to the gorgeous cinematography, though.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Richard (DiCaprio) is a typical twenty-something American whose head is filled with an absurd amount of pop-culture and video game references. While travelling in Thailand in order to broaden his... Richard (DiCaprio) is a typical twenty-something American whose head is filled with an absurd amount of pop-culture and video game references. While travelling in Thailand in order to broaden his horizons and gain some real world experience, he meets Daffy (Carlyle), a crazy Englishman who gives Richard a mysterious map before committing suicide. Apparently the map leads to an idyllic island where the inhabitants live in a natural paradise. Intrigued, Richard convinces two French acquaintances, Francoise and Etienne (Ledoyen and Canet), to journey with him and see if Daffy was right. Upon reaching the island, Richard discovers that it does, in fact, appear to be the dream that Daffy had promised. They meet Sal (Swinton), a strong-willed woman and leader of the group. Sal has made a pact with the weapon-wielding drug dealers who control the island that her group can remain there provided no new bodies arrive. Richard has a brief tryst with Francoise, but she abandons him when she discovers that he has had another sexual encounter while gathering supplies from the mainland. And when two drugged-out Americans show up and crash the party, Richard's newfound Utopia is threatened once and for all. [More]
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle, Paterson Joseph, Jerry Swindall, Peter Youngblood Hills, Lars Arentz Hansen, Staffan Kihlbom, Magnus Lindgren, Victoria Smurfit
Director: Danny Boyle
Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: John Hodge
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Composer: Angelo Badalamenti
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Reviews for The Beach
DiCaprio especially is to be congratulated. He proves once again he's more than just another pretty face.
The Beach never really strays from the commercial track while exploring its inhabitants' hopes and fears, but considering that we in the audience can take it in without getting sand on overheated feet makes the experience a worthy one.
Boyle manages to heighten the impact of The Beach with visceral imagery, high-energy cutting and sharp-edged social commentary.
The last 40 minutes aren't merely dissatisfying -- they're virtually unbearable.
the film itself turns out to be much like its hero Richard: good-looking, slightly cryptic and ultimately more than a little tiresome.
The real downfall of the movie is that there's only so much meaningful interplay you can get out of a beachful of slackers and some tanning oil.
Leo spazzes out like a frat boy at every opportunity, and his later descent into madness looks more like a descent into the world's worst Martin Sheen impression.
The film does not aspire to sociology. It just wants to tell a story. And that it does well.
Many of the film's problems lie with the source material, which reads well in print but seems ludicrous and contrived on the big screen.
The deeper into which this film travels in both plot and character behavior and motivation, the further it sinks into muck and general absurdities.
This movie succeeds in style, music and Leo, but ultimately fails to string along a story good enough to warrant a hearty recommendation.
The Beach needed a director, because it's a little tough to tell what Danny Boyle was doing all those months in Thailand.
...a cross between The Blue Lagoon and Lord of the Flies, with a whole lot less going on than meets the eye.
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