Father Geek here with a callin from our hotheaded cabbie who has been roaming the streets and back alleys of London as of late. He ended up at THE BEACH eary Sunday and caught pretty boy Leoardo Di Caprio in his latest flicker. Here's how the effort struck Travis...
I attended a screening of Danny Boyle's "The Beach" in London on Sunday morning. Arranged by author Alex Garland's publisher and agent it was theoretically a chance for everyone involved in the success of the book to share in a 'successful' transition to screen. Really not the case. In the least. At all.
My initial reservation was in Leoardo Di Caprio, but as it is he was the best thing about this muddled and botched adaptation. The story is stripped of all elements other than the strictly necessary, leaving the narrative too thin, and in its place Boyle tries some of the virtuoso elements that worked for him in Trainspotting. To this end we get a clever but pointless 5 minute sequence of Leonardo running through the jungle as a character in a video game and some genuinely gorgeous cinematography.
There's evidence of the film being hacked around at the editing stage. Within the first 10 minutes Robert Carlyles character addresses DiCaprio's character by name, despite not knowing his name, and one wonders if the 'happy' ending wasn't tacked on in response to test screenings. You might know this one.
What else is there to say? Robert Carlyle delivers another trademark 'manic' performance, and Tilda Swinton is credible as the beach community's leader but the additions and substitutions to the plot ruin the film. When DiCaprio first arrives in Thailand there's a shot of him and the various other travellers at their hotel watching "Apocalypse Now." This is horrifically deliberate move, as towards the end of the film when DiCaprio's in the jungle with the 'spirit' of Carlyle it's like watching a ham-fisted would-be auteur parody the final reel of Coppola's masterpiece. It's a crude homage and lessens Boyle's credibility more than you'd think possible. Oh, and the soundtrack's awful too.....I could go on for a while here, but will leave off with just one more rant.
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As part of the outrageous 'happy' ending, the final shot involves a photograph sent by email and picked up in a web cafe. The mail is accessed through Excite, (bad enough in itself), but contains what pretends to be an 800x600 image. This image is seen to be 'animated' - you see a realtime 'signature' happen. We're talking at least 60 frames, animated, at 800x600 downloaded in seconds over a bad connection. This trying to be hip and down with the web is fantastically screwed and insulting to the audience. But hell, so's the whole movie. If you liked the book, keep it in your head - don't see the film.
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Anyway, keep up the good work guys,
Travis
