Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek star in 'After the Sunset'
In After the Sunset, Pierce Brosnan and company bring together elements from the Pink Panther and the Thomas Crown Affair to make a fun movie with lots of flash and laughs, but one that still seems somewhat lacking at the end.
Brosnan (Dante’s Peak and Laws of Attraction) plays a diamond thief, with a flare for dramatic planning, who is enjoying “retirement” with his partner/fiancé Salma Hayek (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) on a tropical paradise island when Woody Harrelson, who plays a FBI agent that’s hunted Brosnan’s Max character for seven years, shows up to lure Max back for one last job.
Harrelson uses the last of three Napoleon diamonds as the bait for Max – who has stolen the other two and succeeded in making Harrelson’s character look the fool each time. We quickly suspect that Harrelson’s agent has more up his sleeve than a simple plot to catch Max with his hand in the cookie jar, but so does Brosnan. From there the movie becomes a cat and mouse game between Brosnan’s Max and Harrelson’s Stan with the always lovely Hayek and Naomie Harris adding eye candy to the tropical setting and some fun laughs.
Along the way, Brosnan picks up another player in his scheme through the local island’s top mobster played by Don Cheadle (Ocean’s 11 and Hotel Rwanda). Like Hayek, Cheadle’s character serves as more of a distraction than as an important part of the film. His talent is truly wasted and not used in this movie. Cheadle is a great actor and does a good job in his scenes, but is not used enough to truly help the movie or the character.
The movie is directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour series and Red Dragon) and, like his previous action/comedy films, he never really strays too far from a predictable plot. Ratner relies on the charm of Brosnan and the beauty of Hayek, who stays in a bikini top for most of the film, to help audiences gloss over the films many plot holes and weaknesses.
Like Chris Tucker in the two Rush Hour movies, Harrelson’s FBI agent is more goofball than cop, and Ratner uses him to deliver some of the “important” twist at the end. The only problem with that plan is that by the end of the movie you are expecting the twist, and don’t think Harrelson’s Stan capable of such a genius move.
Instead, Ratner leaves you feeling a little ripped off when the credits role and everything turns out the way you figured it would in the opening five minutes of the movie. With the negative said, After the Sunset is a fun movie. It has some good laughs in it and will make you wish Brosnan would consider doing at least one more Bond movie before hanging up the tux.
It has some fun suspense, although you are never really too worried, great locations, and beautiful women. Everyone in the film seems typed cast to their roles, but it is a cast that still delivers an enjoyable movie.
The DVD has quite a few special features on it including deleted/alternate scenes with optional commentary, a blooper reel, feature commentary from Ratner, a documentary about the making of the movie, and an interview Ratner conducted with an actual retired jewel thief – who is now an author.
The special features menu from the 'After the Sunset' DVD
The deleted/alternate scenes include an alternate ending that leads to the same conclusion of the film. The alternate ending isn’t as funny, but still gives some laughs thanks to Chris Penn. It isn’t as good as the ending Ratner chose to run with and therefore deserved to stay on the cutting room floor. Other alternate scenes include Brosnan’s lying to Hayek about his involvement in a break-in earlier in the evening. It is pretty much the same dialogue, but takes place on a bed instead of a bathtub.
Deleted scenes include a funny moment where Brosnan squares off against Hayek’s tennis coach when he catches him putting the moves on Hayek. You have to laugh at that because you can’t help but think the tennis pro is trying to take James Bond’s woman.
The blooper reel also adds some laughs to the film as the actors struggle to understand Hayek’s accent. They all also continually bumble lines, and pull some funny practical jokes on each other.
Even with some of the film’s disappointments, flaws, and predictability, I would still recommend it for anyone wanting to pop some popcorn, sit back and relax with a simple fun movie.
The DVD is out now in the US and available to order via Amazon . UK readers can pick it up from April 11 and pre-order via Amazon UK .
You can read more about the After the Sunset DVD in our database .
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