The Beach (DVD)

The Beach was released in 2000, adapted from the novel by Alex Garland by the team of director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge. This is a film that I saw when it came out, at the cinema I believe, I have seen it once since then, and I watched it again just a few weeks ago. The Beach stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard, a young American who travels to Thailand seeking adventure and escape. Once there, he meets a French couple, Étienne and Francoise, ...
...say, they do, and find the community who live there. They have a positively idyllic time for a while, and then things start to unravel. The story of The Beach is uplifting, shocking, horrifying and hilarious. I have never read the book, nor anything else by Alex Garland, but he seems to be quite a storyteller if this film can be taken as evidence. He sends these young people (and Leo DiCaprio's Richard seems very young and immature) off on an adventure ...

eilidhcatriona 08.08.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...to watch this film. Despite the fact that the film had its cinematic release in 2000 I did not actually get round to seeing The Beach until about one month ago. Given my inherent dislike of Leonardo DiCaprio, it took a half price deal in Blockbuster to make me relinquish £1.00 (!) and hire the DVD of this generally very highly acclaimed film. The Beach tells the story of a young American backpacker (Richard) who travels to Thailand in search of ...
...of a hidden paradise – The Beach. Nobody knows where it can be found, except for a chosen few – one of whom is Daffy as he has a map of how to get there. Inspired by the promise of adventure, Richard takes it upon himself to seek out The Beach. Taking a shine to the French girl staying in the room next to his, he invites her and her boyfriend to take the journey with him – an offer they duly accept. Will they find The Beach – ...

LostWitness 21.10.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...with Leonardo Di Caprio in the starring role - what could be more enjoyable? Perhaps an evening spent sticking pins in your eyes eh? I've had the misfortune of enduring three of Leo's other movies before this one: Critters 3 (which he can't be blamed for), The Man In The Iron Mask where he's miserably miscast in a crap movie and more unfortunately he plays two roles badly instead of just one and Titanic...don't get me started on that one! With those ...
...less than interested in seeing The Beach either and wouldn't have were the choice entirely up to me in those days. Sadly it wasn't and I did and anyway, I heard the book it was based on was meant to be good. All I can say is, there can't have been that much of the book which actually made it into the movie. It's easy to criticise Leo, so I'm not going to. If you like him, then you like him, if not, then he looks 14 years old and it's difficult to ...

wampyrii 24.11.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...- sorry if you liked the movie yourselves and it isn´t `that´ bad but I´m a big fan of the book and although some movies of books leave out little bits of the storyline, this movie absolutely slaughtered the book. But its a review of the movie you´ve all clicked to see so its a review of the movie you´re going to get, a quick insight into the storyline of the movie, a young American backpacker named Richard decides that he wants to visit Thailand ...
...life is still pretty much the same until one night, he meets Daffy a crazed man who rambles on about `The Beach´, a paradise that nobody knows exists where the sand is golden and the waters are a pure blue, of course it wouldn´t be much of a movie if Richard didn´t investigate would it? so of course he does, taking a French couple along with him, he goes off in search of this paradise and finds a whole lot more than he expected. Right I´ll stop there, ...

Angelus 14.10.2001 (16.10.2001) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...for his helpless wee body, the sort of arrangement of features which all the females go "Ooh" at, only this time it's with rather more basic urges than Mumsy ones. Leonardo Di Caprio, these are the reasons all right thinking males despise you with an almost unnatural hatred. Appallingly bad in The Man In The Iron Mask and pretty uninspiring in Titanic, he took the big name lead role in The Beach and the question was absolutely "Can he kick it?" ...
...Not as good as the ultimate hard man, Bobby Carlyle, that is, but then what did you expect. Bob seems to revel in recreating his persona from Trainspotting and you can see he scares the bodily waste out of old Lennie. Compare and contrast the realism and passion of their respective usage of the term "f***". With Lennie it seems to hurt his childlike chin as it sneaks out, but Bob's a real man's man and in his hands, "f***" becomes his lifeblood, ...

dave27 01.09.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...well, two great films in the same week, so I`ve just got to do another film review. Richard, played by Leonardo Dicaprio, travels to Thailand in the hope of doing something different, instead of just being a typical tourist. On his first night in the hotel he has what can only be described as an extremely wierd conversation with a bloke named Daffy, played by Robert Carlyle(trainspotting). The fact that Daffy was found dead very early in the film ...
...set off to see if the island really exists. After swimming to the island they first come accross a gigantic field of marijuana. Thinking they`ve landed in paradise, they start running around the field. This is when Richard discovers an armed guard asleep on the ground who is supposed to be patrolling the field. On trying to flee the field without being seen, loads more guards appear and they soon realise they`re in very dangerous territory. On ...

sue26 25.05.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

The Beach is an excellent film written by Alex Garland it stars Leonardo Di Caprio, although that should not put you off wanting to go to the cinema in order to watch this awesome film. It is basically about Leonardo Di Caprio's character finding a map in Thailand which is leading to an often talked about paradise island. This a truly amazing film, with an excellent storyline. However, this film is only suitable for people over 15 years of age because ...

Lowey 27.07.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

After all the hype about "The beach" I was really looking forward to watching it. Not knowing much about it except the fact that it starred Leonardo DiCaprio, and he goes to Thailand, I was very eager to see it. DiCaprio, plays Richard, an American backpacker, who, whilst staying in a very cheap hostel, befriends, Daffy,(a fantastic cameo by Robert Carlyle) who seems more than a little crazy - whether its from the heat or from the ganja he smokes ...
...a commune, being self-sufficient. The map leads Richard and some friends he meets along the way to what they have been looking for. It is when they arrive that the adventure really begins. The movie centres on the trials and tribulations of Richard, and how his arrival is the beggining of the end of the paradise. It is a good story, although I've heard that it does not measure up to the book at all. I also think that all the hype has ruined it, ...

CandiceB666 25.03.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

I read the book ages ago and was prepared to be very disappointed by the film especially as they had changed the central character from a Brit to an American. So often film don’t live up to the book. The first part of the film drags and I was beginning to wonder if the director had read the same book as me. The story was the same but the spirit and atmosphere of the book was missing. Richard, played by Leonardo Di Caprio, arrives in Bangkok and goes ...
...would have it, he gets the room next to a total nutter excellently played by Robert Carlyle. He mutters about ‘a beach’ and before he kills himself leaves a map to the beach pinned to Richard’s door. Richard also meets two French travellers. He fancies the girl, Francoise but she’s going out with the other one, Etienne. Off they go to find the beach and on the way Richard leaves a copy of the map for two fairly wasted blokes he bumps into. They reach ...

Alix23 16.09.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

Firstly, I read the book a couple of years ago and was surprised when I heard a film version was being made as I thought it seemed like a difficult task. Secondly, I know that films of books are rarely as good as the book. However, if you’re going to do something you should try and make a good job of it. So what happened when they made The Beach? Where was Jed? Someone I thought was crucial to the story as the only character to have a some ...
...the fantasy of it. Where were the really good bits of the narrative/voiceover? Like the one of the characters burning down a hotel? Why was Richard sleeping with every female member of the community he spoke to? Compared to no-one in the book. It wasn’t a totally bad film, just nothing like the book, not really even evocative of the book. I thought the last scene on the island was better in some ways in the film, much more dramatic and really ...

mjhenderson 30.05.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...waited long enough after reading the book to make sure I wouldn't be. A couple of years. I had heard this wasn't a very good movie. I beg to differ. I enjoyed watching it. Leo DiCaprio was very good as Richard and played a slightly more experienced, 'dirtier' person than I have seen him as before. (I have yet to see Basketball Diaries). Robert Carlyle was excellent in the small role he had as the crazy Daffy Duck role who bequeaths the map to 'paradise' ...
...the infamous 'beach' he starts his journey with two fellow backpackers from France. Once there they it appears an idyllic place. As we watch we see the craziness of the 'leader' and the lengths the community will go to to keep it a secret and to keep as their own little paradise, even after a shark attack prompts the need for outside medical help. They don't own paradise and this is quite apparent when we come across the drug lords of the island. ...

Loopy27 04.03.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

The Beach is a movie based on the excellent debut novel by Alex Garland. Set in Thailand, it is the story of a young American (in the book he's British) travelling to Asia, looking for adventure. By pure chance, he finds the adventure that he was looking for, the room he decided to stay the night in was next to someone who has once been a citizen of 'The Beach'. The next day, Richard, the main character, ends up with a rough hand-drawn map in ...
...his way, they leave for the island. The story continues, they reach their destination using a variety of means of transport, and a few hiccups along the way. When they finally set foot on the spectacular 'beach' (in real life it's shot in Maya Bay, on Phi Phi Ley Island, in the Krabi provence of Thailand) it's a sight to behold, and, speaking from my own experience, is almost like it is in real life, apart from there is a small gap in the cliffs ...

Trav3ller 09.07.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

This is the story of a young mans quest to find the perfect idyllic lifestyle in a secluded hippy-type commune on a a Thiland beach - only to find that paradise was not what he expected. It cannot be denied that 'The Beach' is beautiful to look at with the breathtaking scenery of Thailand and, of course, Leonardo DiCaprio looking better than usual. However, having read Alex Garland's novel the film cannot really compare. Little is made of the quest ...
...place to find rather than the haven for the privilaged few that it was intended to be. On top of this, a whole character is missed out, sex is added, and most of the Vietnam war references are toned down for the american audience (or so i read). I do like the way Richard (DiCaprio) gets obsessed with his Gameboy and the game-type scene is amusing. At least he does go a bit mad in some ways which is in keeping with the original story. But the ending ...

RuthHolohan 10.07.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

Basically, the advert shows all the highlights of the film. After so much hype at its original release, it is a bit of a let down, but it is a watchable film. A young american man decides to take a year out (from what we are never exactly sure) and travel the world. He lands in Thailand, but realises this is where every backpacker heads and he will be doing the same things as a million people before him and a million people after him will do. He ...
...up a few people along the way and heads for The Beach (as in the title). This is where the scenes get a bit more violent, a bit more gory as he meets some unsavoury characters along the way, and witnesses some deaths. This of course begins to affect his mind and his judgement, leading him to make a few rash decisions with awful consequences. The soundtrack is very good, with songs from many leading pop stars of the moment, throughout the film. The ...

BAILEY 06.09.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)

...month trip to Thailand (where the film is set) and she had also read the book out there....I thought hey why not, Leo was still looking rather good looking back in those days. I was really enjoying the film at first, I found it very interesting and I thought the 3 main actors DiCaprio, Ledoyen and Canet were excellent, but as the story continues I found myself getting a little bored. The movie starts with Richard (Dicaprio) arriving in Bangkok ...
...of a magical secret Island. The next day Richard finds a map attached to his door and Daffy dead. Richard asks his to neighbors Françoise and Etienne (Ledoyen and Canet) if they would like to go on a trip and the adventure begins, they travel across Thailand in search of this perfect Island, and Richard meets a couple of friends along the way and the day before he leaves makes the mistake of leaving a copy of a map with them. They finally find ...

shoe-junkie 21.10.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Beach (DVD)