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.
Richard (DiCaprio) is a typical twenty-something American whose head is filled with an absurd amount of pop-culture and video game references. While travelling in Thailand in order to broaden his horizons and gain some real world experience, he meets Daffy (Carlyle), a crazy Englishman who gives Richard a mysterious map before committing suicide. Apparently the map leads to an idyllic island where the inhabitants live in a natural paradise. Intrigued, Richard convinces two French acquaintances, Francoise and Etienne (Ledoyen and Canet), to journey with him and see if Daffy was right. Upon reaching the island, Richard discovers that it does, in fact, appear to be the dream that Daffy had promised. They meet Sal (Swinton), a strong-willed woman and leader of the group. Sal has made a pact with the weapon-wielding drug dealers who control the island that her group can remain there provided no new bodies arrive. Richard has a brief tryst with Francoise, but she abandons him when she discovers that he has had another sexual encounter while gathering supplies from the mainland. And when two drugged-out Americans show up and crash the party, Richard's newfound Utopia is threatened once and for all.
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