Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle, Daniel York

Director: Danny Boyle

Summary: Richard is a young traveller who is addicted to nicotine, video games and Vietnam War movies. In a Bangkok hotel he is given a map which leads him to a legendary island paradise... Based on the book by Alex Garland.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this high-charged tale of survival, based on the popular novel by Alex Garland. He portrays Richard, a traveling American who wants nothing more than to experience life completely. Backpacking in Thailand, he gets more than he bargained for when he discovers a seemingly utopian island that is protected by a weapon-yielding gang. Throw into the mix an affair with a beautiful young French woman (Virginie Ledoyen) and dangerous drug smugglers and the situation becomes even more dangerous. Director Danny Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE) turns up the energy to an almost unbearable level, making for an exhilarating ride.

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Reviewed by: cooljimbop
Posted on October 19, 2005 12:55 PM

Having never read the book I cannot make a comparison between that and the film although I hear fans of the book have been disappointed. This film is definitely an acquired taste as towards the end it gets very weird. However, as a fan of Danny Boyle and films that examine people regressing I enjoyed it thoroughly. There are several gruesome scenes that add to the tension and the acting is mostly very good. The story I found incredibly engaging and often very poignant. Style wise it's similar to 28 days later. Approach with caution, you may be rewarded.

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A sleeper hit when released in 1986, Stand by Meis based on Stephen King's novella "The Body" (from the book Different Seasons); but it's more about the joys and pains of boyhood friendship than a morbid fascination with corpses. It's about four boys ages 12 and 13 (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell) who take an overnight hike through the woods near their Oregon town to find the body of a boy who's been missing for days. Their journey includes a variety of scary adventures (including a ferocious junkyard dog, a swamp full of leeches and a treacherous leap from a train trestle), but it's also a time for personal revelations, quiet interludes and the raucous comradeship of best friends. Set in the 1950s, the movie indulges an overabundance of anachronistic profanity and a kind of idealistic, golden-toned nostalgia (it's told in flashback as a story written by Wheaton's character as an adult, played by Richard Dreyfuss). But it's delightfully entertaining from start to finish, thanks to the rapport among its young cast members and the timeless, universal themes of friendship, family and the building of character and self-esteem. Kiefer Sutherland makes a memorable teenage villain and look closely for John Cusack in a flashback scene as Wheaton's now-deceased and dearly missed brother. A genuine crowd-pleaser, this heartfelt movie led director Rob Reiner to even greater success with his next film, The Princess Bride. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Directors Commentary, Theatrical Trailer, Music Video, Deleted Scenes, Cast And Crew Biographies, Original Artwork
Subtitles:	Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
Year:	2000
Release Date:	December 27, 2000
Runtime:	115 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	19927 D V D
Keywords:	Alex, Beach, General, Wide, Screen, Garland, Drama
Genre:	Drama