Rent The Beach on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: John Hodge (screenplay), Alex Garland (novel)
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
On vacation in Thailand, Richard sets out for an island rumored to be a solitary beach paradise.
Verdict
It's a fun thriller that ends up being too shallow and muddled. This had the potential to be a commentary about Generation X. That's only an initial ploy, a discarded metaphor that could have given this a lot of depth. The story falters half way in. I get what the movie attempts to do, it just can't execute. As engrossing as the set up is, the pay off is equally disappointing. This movie had so much promise where a man finds a dream existence, but dreams are ephemeral.
It depends.
Review
This is based on Alex Garland's first novel. He would go on to write the scripts to Boyle's following movies 28 Days Later and Sunshine before making his directorial debut with Ex Machina, followed by Annhilation and Men.
This released just a year after Fight Club, and initially it also seems to be a commentary on the rat race; employment, consumerism, and conformity. This subtext is soon discarded unfortunately.
World traveler Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) is on a shoestring budget seeing the world and staying at severely neglected hostels. A chance encounter with someone that seems deranged leads him to a new destination, though I'd imagine with his travel arrangements he runs into a few people like that. Armed with a desire to see something unique that isn't a typical tourist attraction, this scribbled map of a secret island provides the adventure he seeks. Richard just happens to run into two more people that know about this beach. What are the odds?
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| Leonardo DiCaprio plays Richard |
I have to imagine this was a bit of fantasy. Coming at the peak of Gen X culture where the generation grew up in rebellion and settled into desk jobs. Richard is the antithesis of that. He's not tethered by materialism or a steady job. Richard represents the power and freedom Gen X thought they would obtain. At the onset, this certainly seemed poised to investigate culture in the vein of Fight Club, but that's just a veneer that's soon discarded.
Richard and his two companions can't get to the island directly, otherwise it wouldn't be secret. They just barely manage to swim from the nearest island. After a near life threatening encounter, they find not only the beach but a community that lives there. Richard is accepted and becomes another inhabitant. It seems like a paradise, but movies have trained us to think that anything this perfect has to have a catch or twist. When Richard visits the mainland on a supply run, he realizes exactly why they keep the island such a strict secret. Something so picturesque would become a tourist attraction, developed, and then robbed of what makes it unique.
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| Leonardo DiCaprio plays Richard |
One lie leads to another, and that jeopardizes Richard's place on the island. He manages to convince the leader, Sal (Tilda Swinton), to trust him and makes it back but what will be the cost? Richard ends up isolated from the camp, tasked, or punished rather, with watching a group of visitors that he indirectly led to the island. As difficult as the movie made it seem for Richard to reach the island, the fact this other group made it to the island undermines his effort. The isolation drives Richard mad, and after the initial loneliness he begins to relish it the separation. He imagines he's playing a video game, even toying with the more dangerous inhabitants on the island to entertain himself. I question if isolation would cause him to become delusional. While we've seen Richard gravitate towards a crowd, he's also a lone traveler. I get the idea this is attempting, trying to make him a liability, but it doesn't depict it well.
Richard's return to the group is compounded by his odd behavior and guilt. The exclusion from this grand party has clouded his judgement, causing him to withdraw. When one of the islanders is injured, the group decides to dump him in the forest. They can't get help, risking exposure, and his pain ruins the mood. Richard feels the guilt acutely, but that's also a reflection of his past indiscretions. This could have shown better how Richard was crushed at being cast out, and how his way to cope was to embrace the isolation which just drives him further away.
We knew this paradise would come to an end. Everyone in the island is expelled, and Richard must return to the real world. The beach is relegated to a distant memory. This island represented the dream most people claim to want. That's especially acute with a generation stuck in cubicles. This could have developed Richard and rejection of society better. The second half of this movie falters, undermining the initial potential.
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