A ‘love it or hate it’ film; it’s as simple as that. 

Based on Alex Garland’s novel, a young traveller named Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), while at a hotel in Bangkok, finds a map left by his neighbour, Daffy (Robert Carlyle) who just committed suicide. The map supposedly leads to a legendary island paradise where other souls have settled. Richard persuades Francoise, with Etienne, her boyfriend, to accompany him on his tropical trip.

It’s a shame that Robert Carlyle only remains in the film for a brief 10 minutes, as he adds energy and sets up the narrative well. From there, it all starts to go downhill. However, saying this, the one thing that stops The Beach from going completely down hill is Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s fascinating to watch him in this stage of his development, even if he occasionally stumbles. You could say that it made up for the fact that Danny Boyle was unable to create an ending, or any consistency with The Beach.

Overall, The Beach is easily one of the strangest movies I’ve seen. It’s not a great film by any means, mostly due to the fact it is unable decide what kind of film it’s going to be, and it’s certainly not a horror. But, it’s stunning to look at; it is exceptionally picturesque and pretty, but not one of the actors’ performances particularly stood out. I wouldn’t watch it again.