ah backpack across the world . what an exciting thing it be but only if youre a rare and remarkable person . travel all over the world isn not all it crack up to be . you might get a one night stand and you might get stone but to be honest couldn not you have get that at home . do you really need to go the end of the earth for that . if youre a rare remarkable person you will also get altitude sickness and suffer dysentery and catch ringworm and under go a rabies scare . you will have waste all your money on plane ticket and inoculation and the only thing you will have to show for it be a small paragraph in the obituary column of the local newspaper after die from a rare tropical disease the beach be very similar in many way . it base on a well regard novel by alex garland and feature leonardo dicaprio a megastar after his role in titanic and be direct by danny boyle one of britain great living director and yet it a film that be difficult to enjoy and it easy to explain why characterisation take one american pretty boy and send him in thailand and stick him on an island with a bunch of selfish and unsympathetic people and watch a potentially good film fall apart . do anyone like the character in this movie . neither do i . i haven not read garland novel but i be lead to believe there a scene where a giant squid be wash up on the beach and the character eat it only to end up with food poisoning . i would have enjoy this movie much more if all the character have die from food poisoning . when you watch a movie and the most likable character be a mad mental foul mouth dope smoking scotsman then you know the producer have get a problem another thing i have problem with be the way leonardo dicaprio character richard suddenly turn from inquisitive backpacker into colonel kurtz . something similar happens in another boyle movie 28 day later but at least in that movie youre aware of the character motive even if it be fairly unconvincing . here you do find yourself wonder the explanation end up on the cutting room floor or even if it be exclude at draft stage . not only that but you find that the character remain unchanged by event at the end therefore there be zero character development danny boyle have say that he make quintessential british film and it difficult to disagree with him . trainspotting have a strong feel of time and place while 28 day later mirror the british apocalypse writer of the 1950s . the beach with it exotic foreign location and it american star definitely feel like it make for an american audience and boyle try too hard to pander to their taste . that why the beach be probably boyle weak film to date .