# Beach, The (2000)

### reviewed by
James Sanford

Given his post-"Titanic" heartthrob status, it's easy to forget Leonardo DiCaprio has usually been an actor who likes to work close to the edge. "Titanic" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" seem almost out-of-character for the man who previously starred in such dark works as "The Basketball Diaries," "This Boy's Life" and "Total Eclipse." While "The Beach" returns DiCaprio to the dangerous ground on which he's given his best performances, the film itself turns out to be much like its hero Richard: good-looking, slightly cryptic and ultimately more than a little tiresome.

The fault lies not with DiCaprio, who does as much as he can to make Richard intriguing, or with director Danny Boyle, who brings to "The Beach" a few splashes of the audacity that marked his breakthrough films "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting," as well as his 1997 wash-out "A Life Less Ordinary." Instead, the problems with the picture stem from the script by John Hodge, adapted from the Alex Garland novel of the same name. It's all set-up and no pay-off, a problem that also hobbled Hodge's "A Life Less Ordinary."

"The Beach" does, however, offer oodles of magnificent scenery and, in its first half, a great wish-fulfillment premise. Richard, an American in Thailand, comes into possession of a crudely drawn map of a secret island where, supposedly, the pot is plentiful and the people peaceful. With a couple of French tourists in tow, Richard journeys to this private paradise and finds it more than lives up to its billing. Sure, there are a few machine gun-toting farmers and a couple of bloodthirsty sharks on hand to occasionally harsh everyone's mellow, but every home has its drawbacks.

There's also a secretive leader of this bohemian cult named Sal (Tilda Swinton of "Orlando"), who will eventually cause friction between Richard and his new love Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen). Sal also gets what's sure to be one of the most memorable lines of 2000: "Get some sleep. I may wish to have sex again before we eat breakfast."

Exactly how the downfall of the beach club comes about is awkwardly written and getting the plot on track into the third act requires Richard to do some astounding stupid things which all but eliminate any interest we have in him. Hodge clearly wants to turn this daydream into "Apocalypse Now" (Richard even sees a few clips of the Francis Ford Coppola epic during his stay in Bangkok), with a little bit of "The Deer Hunter" tossed in for good measure. Unfortunately, the swing from the movie's daydreamy first two-thirds into its nightmarish finale doesn't exactly work.

What most viewers will probably take away from "The Beach" is memories of all that gorgeous water, in every conceivable shade of blue, and cinematographer Darius Khondji's striking images of DiCaprio, who is photographed by candlelight, in the glow of an iMac screen and even against the eerie radiance of "disturbed plankton shrimp." As in all his films, Boyle has doused the soundtrack in alluring techno and electropop, with themes by Underworld and All Saints combining harmoniously with the surging score by Angelo Badalamenti ("Twin Peaks"). It's obvious though that Boyle and Hodge intended the audience to go home with much more on their minds than postcard-pretty scenery and terrific music. James Sanford

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