The Beach marks the return of Leonardo Di Caprio to the silver screen after his much swooned over performance as the Prince Charming, Jack from Titanic. Its also the follow up of British director Danny Boyle to the hugely acclaimed and much worshipped Trainspotting. The chances of following either Titanic or Trainspotting with another ace were almost nonexistent so the poor director and star of the show have hardly anything to gain from this particular outing, especially as reports of a blighted shoot had already been emanating from South East asia where the film was being shot.

To its credit The Beach does not disappoint and is largely a beautifully shot, well acted film about a the "backpacking" experience and the discovery of an idyllic world within a world which is so removed from reality and yet so dependent on it. A world of pampered rich kids with credit cards pretending to have found utopia. The dream doesn't last long. The Beach is a quite stunning film to look utilizing its locations to the max. Its like a tourist picture postcard world where everything is idyllic, yet only on the surface.

The yuppie utopia, the beach of the films title is merely a transitory state, a fleeting sense of false security because though the talk is of love and peace and togetherness, the emotions and the drives and the needs and wants are all human. There is greed, jealousy and hatred just below the sugarcoated exterior and cracks soon begin to surface. Unfortunately just when the movie ought to have picked up a gear or two towards its climax, it goes walkabout and Di Caprio's character embarks on a hallucinatory video game version of Apocalypse Now. The diversion merely jars and distracts rather than infuses any profound meaning to events on screen.

Nonetheless, it's a pretty entertaining, wonderful looking and sounding film with decent performances especially by Tilda Swinton as the dictatorial leader of the community of yuppie dropouts. Though trashing Leonardi di Caprio has become the thing to do, to be fair he does a fine job on the other hand Robert Carlisle does his almost stereotypical madman act…..yet another reincarnation of Trainspotting's Begby.

The film is stunningly shot by the man who gave us the great looking Se7en, Darius Khondji - a name to watch out for if you appreciate your cinematography. The Beach isn't a great movie, but it manages to do a decent job of keeping an audience entertained. Danny Boyle has a fluidity of style and an eye for visual composition that is refreshing and vibrant despite what his subject matter may be. Trainspotting was the most wonderfully created piece of pop art and The Beach doesn't do too bad a job in its fairly hallowed footsteps, though its no Trainspotting.