The Beach (Wide Screen) > Reviews

Advantages: Carlyle, the scenery
Disadvantages: Di Caprio's face

...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?" Well, ... Read review

Advantages: Great acting and storyline
Disadvantages: Too much emphasis on drug taking

...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 ... Read review

Advantages: Amazing
Disadvantages:

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 ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful setting, good cast
Disadvantages: Had a lot of media attention where it was built up into something its not. Apparetly incomparable to the book.

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 ... Read review

Advantages: brillant last part & soundtrack
Disadvantages: beginning is hard to get into

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 ... Read review

Advantages: Good peformances, soudtrack and scenery
Disadvantages: Not enough depth to the storyline

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 ... Read review

Advantages: Good performances, Leo and a tasty Frenchman, great soundtrack
Disadvantages: unnecessary monologue, preferred the alternate ending

...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 ... Read review

Advantages: Scenery, and the ending is brilliant.
Disadvantages: The book is superior

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 ... Read review

Advantages: Good storyline, unique
Disadvantages: some parts are a bit too strange

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 ... Read review

Advantages: Good acting, Interesting storyline
Disadvantages: Some parts drag

...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 ... Read review

Advantages: Good sountrack
Disadvantages: Not very good film

Having read the book some time ago, I felt it was about time I watched this film. The story, for those who don’t know goes something like this. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Richard, an American tourist in Thailand who wants to get away from the tourist trail. He meets briefly with daffy ,a nutcase who gives him a map to The Beach just before he kills himself (daffy that is). The beach it seems is some kind of travellers ‘Holy Grail’. Richard teams ... Read review

Advantages: The DVD has some good extras, including the All Saints video.
Disadvantages: I found myself relating to the book too often.

The Beach is one of my favourite books ever, and despite mixed reviews, I enjoyed the film too. The plot is altered, occasionally radically, from the book, and as many critics claim, it does deteriorate in quality towards the end, where Leo goes crazy, and the ending is disappointing, because it is different from the book, as the end of the book was apparently to gruesome to film. The first half of the film works really well, although when I saw the ... Read review