After the Sunset

Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson, Don Cheadle, Naomie Harris, Obba Babatunde, Jeff Garlin, Chris Penn, Alan Dale
Director: Brett Ratner
Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime
Rated: M 15+ low level violence, low level coarse language, sexual references
Running Time: 89 Minutes

Who Will Walk Away?

Synopsis:
The high stakes action comedy 'After The Sunset' begins where most great heist movies end - with a pair of master thieves escaping to a tropical paradise to enjoy the spoils of their labour. But when an FBI agent, Stan (Woody Harrelson), who has pursued them for seven years, becomes convinced they are actually plotting to pull off a million dollar theft from a nearby "diamond cruise", a riveting game of cat and mouse begins.

Max "The King Of Alibis" Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) and his beautiful accomplice Lola (Salma Hayek) have come to Paradise Island in the Bahamas, fresh off their final big score in which they lifted the second of the three famous Napoleon diamonds. With their financial future set, the couple is ready to relax and enjoy their hard earned riches. Or are they?

My Verdict:
If it were not for the on screen chemistry between Pierce Brosnan and Woody Harrelson, 'After The Sunset' would have been a very, very average heist movie. Heist movies need something special to make them stand out which in this case is Brosnan and Harrelson, who were obviously having a great time making this movie, which shows on screen, as they are so relaxed together and play off each other so well. Harrelson provides most of the comedic moments, and his timing was spot on. The scene where Harrelson and Brosnan end up sleeping together in the same bed after Hayek kicks Brosnan out of their house was very funny, as was the scene where Harrelson and Brosnan go fishing together. Over the seven years that FBI agent Stan has been pursuing Max, they have developed a friendship of sorts where they can sit at the same table and throw line after cryptic line at each other, with each still not knowing if either are telling the truth. It was these interactions that make this movie and were the most looked forward to.

The semi-clad Salma Hayek is good as the strong demanding Lola but sometimes it was hard to imagine if she really would take up with the dishevelled, unshaven, casual Max. Some of her scenes felt as if they were there to show off her body, which may please some of the male audience, but it makes those scenes sometimes tedious and appear superfluous to the story. Don Cheadle's under-developed character as the local gangster and Naomie Harris as a local cop add some distraction to the three main characters.

The bulk of the movie is taken by Stan's pursuit of Max and Lola in Paradise Island and the setting up of theft of the last of the three Napoleon diamonds which is on a cruise ship which is about to dock. The diamond is indeed stolen but its theft leads to some double-crossing and surprises for all the characters, which is par for the course for this genre, but nothing new for the audience. Max's final scene comments regarding love being more valuable than money were very lame, considering his lifestyle, and were very hard to swallow.

'After The Sunset' is a very lightweight movie, very enjoyable while it lasts but not mind-bending enough to be taken too seriously or one that will sit in the memory bank for too long.

Rating : C

Christina Bruce