Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoThe Beach
November 7th 2006 05:52
The Beach (1995)
It's strange. 'The Beach' seems to have two parts of reputation around it; one part is as a failure in terms of Leonardo DiCaprio's follow-up to Titanic, as if this in itself was meant to be a sequel to the highest-grossing film to date. The other part is that it seems to have an air of nonchalance about it. It's kind of hard to explain; it's as if any sort of general opinion about this film was drowned out by the stalling of DiCaprio's acting career.
'The Beach' is actually as much an ill-fated follow-up to 'Trainspotting' as it is to 'Titanic', being directed by Danny Boyle, and wonderfully so. It's a story of travellers - Richard (DiCaprio) is a backpacker desperate to romanticize his 'adventure' in Thailand. He happens upon a map to a secret paradise and seems to get his wish. But, as expected, trouble follows him there.
As I mentioned at the beginning, this is a strange film. There seem to be several themes at play; the impossibility of utopia, the price of Richard's failings, etc, etc. Up until the last thirty minutes, I felt that this movie was brilliant and I didn't understand how it could have gotten such a bad wrap. Up until the last thirty minutes. The underlying problem should've been evident to me throughout the film; the protagonist, Richard, is not a sympathetic character. As the film carried on I began to feel that we were following an anti-hero of sorts, but the ending negates any such feelings, and leaves the viewer wondering why they bothered - why they invested any level of care in the characters.
DiCaprio is good with what he's been given, and he can't really be faulted for his performance, it's more the inconsistency and vagueness associated with his character that left me annoyed. What annoyed me most was the wasting of a generally interesting story. There's a nasty undercurrent at work in this paradise, and it's never really resolved adequately.
The visuals throughout the film are beautiful, the location and direction is beautiful. But I guess this just makes it all the more of a let-down in the end. I guess it's a good film with a single, fatal flaw - it's protagonist.
HIGHLIGHTS: Aside from those already mentioned, watch out for Robert Carlyle in what is little more than an extended cameo. He's great, as usual, but underused.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
A mess from start to finish the heart is completly missing from and their is no passion for the subjectthat coems through onscreen.
Read the book
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
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Fat Cult
Techbreak
Yeah, this movie was nothing special... it felt like it was going somewhere, then disappointed. I enjoyed the sexytime scenes, though.
The last third of The Beach and the last third of 28 Days Later are oddly similar, notice that? Seems like Boyle likes his protagonists to go nutty.
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Keira
Keira's Blog
I like the song that All Saints did for it... it gets stuck in my head sometimes....
I'm just going off on random tangents aren't I? Well, thats because I have nothing to say about the movie itself, I remember that I've seen it I just don't remember anything about it...
I'll stop now.
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Keira
Keira's Blog