The Beach (2000) Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.0 stars
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Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle, Paterson Joseph, Lars Arentz-Hansen Based on the novel by: Alex Garland Written by: John Hodge Directed by: Danny Boyle Running Time: 120 minutes
Based on the novel by Alex Garland, The Beach stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard, an American looking for some adventure in his life. He finds it in Bangkok, when his incredibly strange neighbor (Robert Carlyle, who once again forced me to turn on my television's captions so I could understand his dialogue) leaves him a map of a "hidden" island where a handful of others have found paradise (oh, and copious amounts of weed too). But as Richard finds out, whenever humanity is involved, can it ever be paradise?
DiCaprio's first starring role since his launch into superstardom with Titanic is a flawed mishmash of ideas that not surprisingly failed to set the box office on fire. While I give Leo credit for taking a role that goes against what people want to see, I have to criticize him for, well, taking a role that goes against what people want to see. It may do good for yourself as an actor to do something different, but when you have a huge built in audience and alienate them immediately... how smart is that? Maybe if you've been typecast for 3 or 4 films is a row, sure. But a pre-emptive strike against typecasting? This just wasn't the right choice.
Also, I'm sorry to say that this movie actually SUFFERS by having DiCaprio in the lead, as he just isn't the right choice to play the lead character. Many times I found myself laughing at his performance, as it seems he's yet to develop a man's voice. So when he yells, it produces that same screeching sound I found incredibly annoying in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and This Boy's Life.
Since Richard is such an unlikable character from start to finish, the only really sympathetic person in the film is Étienne (Guillaume Canet), whose girlfriend (Virginie Ledoyen) is stolen away by Richard. However, Étienne is a very minor character, and after the first hour or so you barely even see him again.
While for an hour and fifteen minutes or so The Beach is not that bad, it unfortunately goes completely astray in the third act, becoming an odd mix of Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter and a video game. We see Richard's mental state go from point A to point C, skipping point B entirely. Now being the educated fellow that I am I'm able to piece together exactly what was going on, but the third act is so choppy that most viewers will lose interest based on their disgust and confusion. While the changes in his character are somewhat logical given the situation he's placed in, they are just not presented credibly to the audience.
The Beach is available on DVD from Fox Home Entertainment. The disc contains the film in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The plentiful amount of extras on this disc include: a full length audio commentary track by director Danny Boyle, nine deleted scenes (with or without commentary from Boyle as an option), the All Saints music video for "Pure Shores" along with a commercial for the film's soundtrack, storyboards, many theatrical trailers and TV spots, a decent promotional featurette, and the usual cast and crew bios. And, as with almost all new Fox releases, there are some great menu screens on the disc.
Danny Boyle's commentary track is a delight to listen to, as Boyle discusses every possible aspect of the film's production. He's a bright man with good ideas and a fine sense of humor (so it perplexes me as to why I've yet to like any of his films). The deleted scenes, which he also comments on, could have either stayed or gone and they wouldn't have had much effect on me either way. None of them are glaringly bad or out of place, as you see with many deleted scenes on discs these days, and Boyle points out that the majority of them were cut simply for time concerns. The original ending, while very much a downer, didn't bother me either (especially since the last third of the film lost my interest anyway).
As often the case with DVDs, even if the movie itself isn't the greatest, it can be saved by extras on the disc. This is definitely what happens with The Beach. The film just misses the mark, but now that this DVD is available its more than worth my time... and yours.
Reviewed by Chuck Dowling - chuckd21@fdn.com AOL Instant Messenger: FilmJax The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/ -- Chuck Dowling Editor - The Jacksonville Film Journal http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/
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