Wonderful Movie

Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The film version of The Beach is not as gripping as the book, which is an absolute page turner. If you haven't read the book yet, I highly suggest you give it a read. The film is still very entertaining though, as it keeps you interested throughout, and is filled with beautiful cinematography and landscapes. Leonardo absolutely steals the show, as he does in just about all of his movies, and does a great job of portraying the young, starry eyed traveler Richard, who is seeking the ultimate journey and eventually is pushed to the brink of insanity by the utopia he was so eagerly seeking.One way that the film bested the book, IMO, is by having Richard travel to the mainland with Sal for supplies instead of Jed. I think this was a much better way to depict the interactions and relationship between Richard and Sal, while also building more of an urgency for Richard to keep the others from reaching the island. It absolutely made more sense for Richard to fear being blackmailed by Sal over what transpired during their trip to the mainland than what transpired in the book.

I loved the book and really enjoyed the film. Does paradise really exist? What could go wrong? The Beach is a journey for sure.

Well, Hollywood gave us a good self-portrait of what self-involved human-hating parasites they are.None of the "romance" has the slightest feeling or passion. It's all possessiveness or like going to the toilet: a mere bodily function. To call it "love/adventure" is to insult both love and adventure.What adventure? The narrator (the narration done in a voice absent of affect) tells a tale of someone pretty mindless who travels somewhere and finds something a little less interesting than Woodstock or Burning Man.There is no reason for anything being what it is. No character development because there were, frankly, no real characters.Even death is portrayed as "naturally" justifiable, even murder. But mostly just meaningless.The last line the narrator says was laughable. It reminds me of the 10th rate bit of BS I saw written on a restaurant wall near my house: "In the infinite moments it takes to read these words, you will have lived forever." Like the pseud-koan on the wall, not a single part of that or this movie is true.Hollow, empty, dishonest. No such people exist, have existed, or ever will exist. Save your time.

Danny Boyle's The Beach was an awful viewing experience for me and thinking back on it is just as unpleasant, so naturally I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about it.The reason that The Beach is so awful is because it is so pretentious and full of itself. It gives a painfully obvious and blatant expression on a social commentary that feels so forced. The Beach is also extremely boring. I was patiently waiting for the movie to pick up, but after an hour of pure nothing, I gave up hope and assumed that the rest of the film would be just as uneventful. Sadly, I was right. The Beach feels like a 2-hour long Expedia commercial. The music is cheap and terribly cheesy and the cinematography is sometimes interesting, but mostly just dull.Leonardo DiCaprio did give an entertaining performance even though he did overact quite a bit. Tilda Swinton wasn't bad either, but the rest of the cast is just so forgettable and boring that it even weighs down these two characters. Robert Carlyle was one of the few redeemable aspects of The Beach. His character was utterly mad and it seemed that he loved playing this character, which made him a blast to watch.The story is painfully slow. We have to endure long stretches of Leo's character expressing his obsession for a girl he barely knows, then we are suddenly treated to a horrifically graphic shark attack scene. The tone of The Beach is never established. Most of the movie is extremely depressing and generally uncomfortable to watch, but then the movie ends on a gleefully happy note as if nothing bad even happened.The best way I can explain The Beach is that it is a confused, hyper mess of a film that tackles a social commentary so blatantly obvious that it comes off grossly pretentious. And any time Danny Boyle tries to have fun, it comes off as just awkward. While The Beach does have a passionate cult following, I simply cannot find enjoyment in the film myself. It's dull, pretentious and just messy. I respect Danny Boyle as a film maker but I really don't know what he was hoping to achieve with this one. I'm just grateful that the whole experience was completely forgettable. Another trip to this mind- numbing "paradise" wouldn't be good for my sanity.