I started watching this on TV one night, actually, but about half way through, I got distracted by something or other and missed some, and then figured I was missing so much anyway because of TV's usual crappy editting job so it can be "clean" for TV, and just turn it off, opting to rent it. I'm really glad I did, because if you see this movie, you should see it in it's entirety.
Richard, Leo's character, is a traveling American in Bankok or however the hell you spell that... somewhere near Thailand, and he happens to meet this Brit in the room next to him at the trashy hotel. This Brit, called Daffy, is "fucked up in the head" as Richard calls him, and keeps babbling about this island and this beach that seems so wonderful, but they don't let you go. o.o;; Obviously, Richie doesn't put much into it, until the next day, when he finds a copy of the map on his door. When he goes to talk to Daffy, he's in there, dead with his wrists slit open. Eech.
Richard find these two French travelers in the room next to his, one of them being a beautiful girl, the other being her boyfriend. >.o Ouch. On a whim, he asks them to come with him to this secret island, just for a hell-of-it adventure. ^^;; They agree.
So, the three of them travel to the island, and Richard is, of course, falling for the beautiful girlfriend, Fransua (@.@ *so unsure about spelling*). They watch stars together, he flirts, etc. He also meets these potheads at one hotel and they seem to know the myth about the island. On another whim, he makes a copy of the map and leaves it for them. They have to swim to the actual island, and meanie French people that they are, trick Richard into thinking Fransua has been eaten by a shark and then laugh at him. -_-;;; Heh. When they get to the island, they come out to this freaking HUGE field of marijuana. Like, HUGE. Yay yay yay, we're in Pot Heaven, woo hoo--holy shit, there's farmers with automatic weapons here!! So they begin to try and hide from these farmers with guns who don't look like they'd welcome visitors too well. Tension tension, running away, until they reach a waterfall, and Fransua decisively jumps off, followed by the boys. A black man with a super nice chest greets them down there and congradulates them on their arrival.
They're taken to the village, which is basically a beach village/resort filled with travelers who have stumbled upon the islander and decided to live there. The three are accepted into the village and start a happy, paradise life there. The rules are simply that you can't return to the mainland, because then others would find out about the island and it would be overrun.
Over the weeks/months/however long they're there, Richard is still butt-ugly in like/love/lust with Fransua, and she soon makes it known to him that she feels the same way. She dumps her Frenchie boyfriend for Richard.
Everything is peachy-keen until Sal, the casual leader there, explains that the rice they got from the mainland has rotted and she needs to go back for more. She takes Richard with her against his desires. There, on the mainland, they run into the potheads, who thank Richard for the map and tell him they're coming soon. >.o Eeples. Richard is pretty pissed and tells them to forget about it, but it's too late. Sal believes that they just saw the map and have no copy, and says she'll keep quiet to the others. In exchange, Richard turns into her little love-whore. Yuppers, they have sex. Supposedly, it's all forgotten about when they go back to the island, and Rich is happy with Fransua again.
But then, there's a shark attack. Two Swedes are attacked while fishing, and one dies, and the other, who refuses to go near water again to be taken to a hospital, just tries to live with his wounds (half his leg bitten off, and a chunk out of his stomach. >.<). This, however, brings the others quite down to have to be around a suffering, dying man. God forbid anything should bring them down, so they go ahead and take him out into the jungle and leave him to die. The French ex-boyfriend (I dun remember his name...) thinks they're evil and cruel and stays with him.
A little while after, Sal grabs Richard and takes him to an overlook where they look with binoculars to see the potheads and their girlfriends at the island across, with a map, ready to come over. As punishment for having copied the map, Sal makes Richard stay at that exact spot to wait for them until they arrive so he can take the map and turn them away. "But that could be weeks!" Richard exclaims. Sal doesn't care. He's going to dig himself out of his own shit. So, he sits there, alone in the jungle and waits. Fransua somehow finds out that he slept with Sal, and comes all the way to dump his sorry cheating ass. More solitude. While he's waiting, he notices the farmers camping out here (it's near their pot field), and realizes happily that they'll catch the intruders and most likely shoot them, ridding Rich of all this trouble. He goes a bit crazy in the jungle, and I can't make sense of this all, but he, like, amuses himself by pretending he's in a video game and eats bugs and steals the farmer's guns while they're asleep to play around and then put them back. @.o
Finally, the intruders come. They wander into the pot field and are a wee bit less careful than Richard's group, singing loudly and dancing around in the field. Needless to say, they're caught by the farmers, who hold them at gun point. When they try to explain, give money, and leave, one of them gets shot. It doesn't take long for the others to try and run, also getting shot. Richard hides at the edge of the forest and watches. One of the girls is about to be getting away, about to get to the forest, but Richard springs out and does this hilarious hiss thing to scare her, and it just looks so funny even though I don't think it was supposed to. XD Anyway, she gets scared and stops and is immediately shot and falls over dead in front of Richard. The map is right there for his taking, but he's so disturbed and horrified by what he saw and what he did that he just turns and runs. The farmers see him and try to get him too, but he gets away.
I'm still slightly confused by the next stuff, but I think it's basically Richard freaking out/dreaming/hallucinating, because it goes back to Daffy and everything, and the gist of all the craziness, I think, is the island is like a death-trap disguised as paradise, and Daffy knew what he was doing when he killed himself. But Richard, knowing he has to flee, goes back to the village to get Fransua and the French guy to leave with him, the three of them again. However, the farmers come into the village and catch them, bringing them into the room where all the other people are. The farmers are pissed and all, yelling at Sal and telling them all they have to leave because there's too many people and it's interfering with their farming. Sal says that Richard was the one that copied the map, and they give her a gun with one bullet, telling her if she shoots him (Rich), they can stay. In order to protect her paradise, Sal is ready to do it, even though everyone else is begging her not to. She fires, but it's on a blank, and Richard is set free. Of course, now knowing what Sal would/could have done to any of them, all the travelers flee the island. Richard and the others go back and seperate, and Richard goes on with his life in civilization.
What I liked: Sooo many things. I really loved the story... it was original and interesting, however much strange. The writing was great, it was done very well. The location was extremely beautiful, and the acting was good.
I've heard a lot that Ewan McGregor was supposed to have the role of Richard originally, but Danny Boyle gave it to Leo or something? Ewan wasn't too happy about that, I guess. Leonardo did a fine job, but I really would have loved to see this movie with Ewan. I think he would have done SUCH a good job, and it's the type of movie I can see him in. So, if I could see the movie remade, I'd have Ewan be Richard.... and me be Fransua. ^____^ I am French, after all! Heehee, anyway, all the actors were good, I thought. Fransua was very good and a beautiful woman too... all the island people were great.
The characterization was pretty good, I suppose. I didn't get a real clear idea of the character of Richard, who was the biggest focus and even had an voice-over narration. I suppose he was just some young guy who wanted adventure and went too far to get it. Is it supposed to be deeper than that? I guess I have a hard time sometimes seeing Leo as deep. ^^;; That's where I think Ewan would have done good.. I think he can bring a lot of depth to his characters. The other characters, there really wasn't a huge effort put into explaining them, except for Sal, and I liked hers a lot! She's kind of like this bitchy lady who's obsessed with this idea of paradise and will go through any costs to keep it. I think whatever past she had would be interesting.
I liked the diversity. On the island, there's such a diverse group of people from all around the world, and it was cool for them all to be brought together in this. Accents are wonderful. ^^ I read that this is a British film, which would have made a TON more sense for Ewan to play a Scot in it. *gripe gripe*
The idea reminded me SO much of Llanon... this mysterious, beautiful deserted (kinda) place where people from everywhere come and just start their lives with each other was so similar... it gave me good ideas on Llanon and the possible founding. The difference, of course, is that this was a supposed-paradise, and Llanon has never come close.. been actually the opposite. Perhaps that's what's real about it.
What I didn't like: Well, as I've expressed so much, I would have liked to see Ewan in Leo's role. Leo was fine, but I wanted Ewan! >=/ The confusion was a bit much at times, towards the end, but I guess that's what really made it a good film. I just wish I could have understood it a little better. Maybe I did just fine and I'm trying to find too much of a deeper meaning in it. =/
I didn't always like the character... um... well, maybe it was the writing or something. Sometimes, it just seemed unrealistic, the reactions and actions of the people. And somehow, it seemed like Fransua's transition from the French dude to Richard was all-too-easy.
The ending was fine, I guess, and it reminded me in ways of the Trainspotting ending, but I guess I wanted more closure on what happens with all the people and Richard after this huge thing in their life. He explains it a bit, I guess... that it's something you can't really ever forget, but you move on from.
Other than that, I really didn't dislike much else, that I can remember, at least. ^^;;; I might get the DVD to this, but it'd have to be when I have more money. =/
