The Beach
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Movie Reviews of The Beach
Movie Review: High diving, Dreams and Demons in the Land Beyond
Summary: 5 Stars
In Danny Boyle's masterpiece, the young wanderer finds that the Community he once found so enthralling and unique survives as artifact even if not as a tangible, living entity in itself.
The Beach is a classic road film. instead of shoe-leather (as in The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition)), horses, bikes (Easy Rider (35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)), trains or cars, the mode of travel for the fellow travelers is paddle boat, high-diving (jumping) and swimming in the lovely wilderness of Thailand. With apparent homage to the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, the young people are greeted, upon reaching an expansive field of marijuana, by farmers whose livelihoods are at stake and who are not in a good mood to see the new tourists; strangely, Richard himself, after living in the idyllic commune for some time, abhors the sight of civilization on the shopping trip to the mainland.
Be that as it may, he has learned--vis-a-vis the seemingly endless list of shopping requests from fellow communards, that the city is sometimes a necessary evil. The pristine Thai wonderland community that Richard (Leonardo diCaprio) and French fellow travelers Françoise (Virginie LeDoyen) and Etienne (Guillaume Canet) discover is flawed by misguided, increasingly dehumanized leadership in the form of Sal (impeccably portrayed by Tilda Swinton). Sal's confrontation with the farmers is strong; one begins to witness the absurdity of boundaries and nearly mourn for lost, wasted possibilities for sharing the world and its resources. Yet we also sympathize on some level with those who were here first and cannot help but wonder at the growers' plight as well as that of the young "tourists."
There are echoes of Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier - Three-Disc Limited Edition (Contains Rare Bonus Disc From Circuit City!) (Francis Ford Coppola, 1978), as Richard begins to go somewhat insane after Sal orders him to "turn back" the new arrivals--young people, Europeans and Americans like themselves, on an adventure hunt with the copied map left by Richard.
Richard becomes a leader himself after these experiences on the beach, but the genius of director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge (the same incredible team that created Trainspotting) conveys the notion that true heroism sometimes involves the opposite of leaping bravely into the unknown. Françoise's photograph survives, and becomes artifact.
It passes into the historical consciousness of the film's heroes. In the final analysis, the Community is neither all evil nor a flawless paradise. It is, rather, a human experience that at moment of Richard's life is met bravely and with idealism, savored, confronted, left behind and finally, cherished.
Note: The film includes an incredibly astute cameo performance by Robert Carlyle (of Trainspotting fame).
Movie Review: Give It Another Chance
Summary: 5 Stars
... when I saw this movie in the theater, I did not like it. I thought that the beautiful scenery was wasted by a movie with a thin plot line. However, I decided to give this movie another shot when it aired on HBO. Boy, am I glad I did...not only did I end up taping it on a subsequent viewing, but I have watched it a total of six times now and have ordered a copy for my DVD player.I will not go into any detail regarding the storyline, as many other reviewers have already done that. What I will say is that the movie is an engrossing masterpiece. Not only does DiCaprio give an impressive performance as a lying, cheating, twenty something year-old, you actually like his character because he IS human. His character (Richard) is one that strives for adventures in the search of personal pleasure, and pays the consequences for some of his indiscretions.
What you learn from this movie is that nothing is ever perfect, and humans least of all... This movie, like Fight Club, condemns our behavior in many ways. The scene where Richard and Sal go from the beach (paradise) to the mainland to get supplies reminded me of what it's like walking around New York. It's a horrible mess...way too many people. Richard had been looking forward to re-joining society, but the minute he stepped foot on the mainland, all he wanted to do was leave again. However, despite all of the innate flaws that we as humans have, we have many other redeeming qualities that are also captured on this film. Love, a sense of adventure, friendship, and courage are just some of the human qualities that are highlighted brilliantly by this film. Life is beautiful and ugly, and everything in between. This film captures all of it...
The voice-over narration by DiCaprio (Richard) is a real key to this movie...it really helps you to understand his character's thoughts and feelings. Without it, the movie would be far less gripping.
Many complaints were made about the last third of the movie, in which Richard goes temporarily insane. I agree that that part should have been developed more...this is one case where an extra half-hour of development would've helped the movie tremendously. It does suffer from a sort of schizophrenic complex, but I guess that's the point. Despite this minor flaw, however, the movie is a major winner and one of my all-time favorites (other favorites of mine include The Matrix, 12 Monkeys, Gattaca, Rounders, Gladiator, and Varsity Blues). If you have trashed this movie after seeing it once, I beg you to see it again. Hopefully, you too will come to appreciate the real beauty of "The Beach".
Movie Review: A truly brilliant movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Beach" is one of Leonardo DiCaprio's best films, and deserves to be compared with his performance in "Titanic". This movie all starts with a man named Richard (played by Dicaprio).Richard is your average city boy, and now he's looking for something new. Richard attempts to seek paradise by looking for a mysterious beach listed on a map, and later learns the urban legend about it. So later, him, and two teens from France, Etienne and Francoise, go looking for it. And when they finally get there, they discover a tribe that's more than happy to let them in, and then basically have a world of paradise all to themselves. From that point on, it may seem to you like this is just a serene little movie, but you'll find yourself wrong. Dead wrong.
Earlier, on their way swimming to the beach, Richard and Etienne have a little shark scare plotted by Francoise, and that's that. But later, when they three have integrated with the island, the threat of sharks becomes horrifyingly real. Richard has a face-to-face encounter with a shark, and lives to tell the tribe about it, which is no surprise since it the shark was a rather small one, as pointed out later by one of the tribe members. But that was just the beginning. Later, the tribe witnesses the horrifying aftermath of several bloody shark attacks that leaves Richard white as a sheet. But the worst is yet to come for this island, and it won't be because of sharks.
When Richard takes advantage of the paradise he has in his hands, all hell breaks loose. And Richard will regret the bad decisions he's made. Richard is banished from the tribe and forced to stay on a desolate hill for weeks to come until he can get back the maps he made available to the public, making their secret beach a tourist hot spot, which is about the worst thing that can happen for the tribe that has lived there for who knows how long. Then, Richard finds out his decision to introduce the beach to the public has also introduced the beach to a gang of ruthless Swedish hunters that will stop at absolutley nothing to keep the beach under raps by ridding it of all the people on it, which leaves Richard witness to the horrific killings of 4 innocent American tourists that makes it abundantly clear that he and everyone else on the beach have to get as far away from it as possible before it's too late.
So, if you like movies that are completley unpredictable, see The Beach and be prepared to be blown away.
Movie Review: The Beach a perfect vehicle for Utilitarianism
Summary: 5 Stars
The Beach is a great artistic manifestation of the ethics of Utilitarianism.Utilitarianism is based on the teachings and writings of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Their basic moral axiom, "Principle of Utility" or " The Greatest Happiness Principle". The first of the simplified formulations, involves how Utilitarians determine what is morally correct. "The morally best (or better) alternative is that which produces the greatest (or greater) net utility, where utility is defined in terms of happiness or pleasure". Utilitarians believe that pleasure and happiness is an intrinsic good, and anything that promotes this is perceived as positive. I think this film shows the strengths and weakness of Utilitarianism quite well in a setting that Bentham and Mill would be hard pressed not to think of a better context for their ideas and philosophy to take place in. I think this film takes a fair postmodernist critique of Utilitarianism, by showing the positives and negatives but leaving the final judgements on Utilitarianism to the viewer. We see many great things with Utilitarianism like its democratic foundation, universality, optimism, and fun. Yet we also see the dark side with its complexity to apply and its unjust nature. Mill wrote in Utilitarianism, "all the grand sources of human suffering are in a great degree, many of them almost entirely, conquerable by human care and effort" The Beach seems to say that the seductive power of hedonism will drive us further and further away from "human care and effort", only to a realm of questionable moral and ethical inconstancy to keep us from pain.
Danny Boyle films seem to repeat this theme often in excellent manners. In "Transpotting" the chemical paradise of Heroin leads the characters down deadly and destructive roads. In "28 Days Later" the false protection and society of the Military Compound in Manchester leads the main characters to an even scarier world. As humans we are in constant search for this earthly "paradise". Boyle and Garland seem to say forget about trying to search for this "paradise" because it is false and maleviolent. And look elsewhere--where ever that may be. I love this film, and I am glad that Garland and Boyle have rebounded successfully "In 28 Days Later". I still think The Beach is a smarter film though.
Movie Review: LIFE'S A BEACH AND THEN. . . well . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
There is a genre of film we have dubbed It's-So-Hard-Being (Fill In Pampered Stars Name Here) Cinema, in which an obscenely over-paid actor goes through an existential crisis and finds his life, like, totally shallow, and so divorces himself from all those superficial trappings and returns to what's really important. Think of Anthony Hopkins in It-Stinked -- sorry, INSTINCT, Kevin Spacey in AMERICAN BEAUTY, Winona Ryder in GIRL, INTERRUPTED. The resulting performances are usually difficult to swallow since they come from people who spend more money on Melrose Avenue in half an hour than we make in a month. One of the most ridiculous contributions to this largely insufferable collection is from Leonardo DiCaprio, who got paid twenty million clams to get back to nature.
In THE BEACH, director Danny Boyle's hilariously self-serious travelogue, Leo goes to Thailand in search of himself. He overdoses on "Who am I?" voice-overs in the beginning but never really convinces us he's anything more than a Beverly Hills brat in the midst of an amusingly naive rebellion. Roughing it in a fleabag motel, he meets pothead Robert Carlyle, who gives him a map to an island paradise. Since all this navel-gazing would be incomplete without some French influence, Leo teams up with a gorgeous gamine and her equally photogenic boyfriend to find the mythic paradise.
So, what then is the film once it hits the glorious white sands? Is it ROBINSON CRUSOE? Is it LORD OF THE FLIES? Is it beautifully shot and dumb as a coconut rind? The answers are "Not really," "Hell, no," and "You betcha." On the island, Leo goes shirtless, gets a tan, sleeps with two different women for no apparent reason, kills a shark, yells a lot, imagines himself as a character in a video game and saves the tribe from bloodthirsty drug-dealers. No, it doesn't make a shred of sense, but it sure is pretty. Leo bends over backward trying to be a sexy stud, an action hero and a jungle madman, often in the same scene. Not to diminish his talent, but he's just too darn cute for any of it to be believable.
The mediocre reviews originally given to THE BEACH were much too kind. Thank goodness Leo got back to the real basics; making GOOD movies.