In Brett Ratner’s After the Sunset, Pierce
Brosnan and Salma Hayek team up as Max Burdett and Lola
Cirillo, a romantically involved duo of jewel thieves
who fool even the best of FBI agents, in their
robberies. The movie opens to their last diamond heist,
together, in which they lure Officer Stan Lloyd (Woody
Harrelson) into a trap, and escape with their second
Napoleon diamond, in a set of three. Shortly thereafter,
they hop a plane to the Bahamas and settle into their
gigantic new home. This marks the end of their careers
in crime. Then and there, a cruise-liner carrying the
third and last diamond in the Napoleon set docks itself
into town, and this serves as a legitimate reason for
Agent Lloyd to fly down and keep a watchful eye on Max
and Lola, just in case they are tempted to complete
their collection. He has his own motives and they have
theirs, and the picture ends in a twist.
The movie is unbelievably
average in almost every sense. Ratner clearly thinks he
has made all the right moves when, in fact, none of them
are all that smart. But, I suppose he cannot be faulted
for having confidence in his methods. Unfortunately,
when the movie is over, viewers will undoubtedly see him
in a pathetic light. Having After the Sunset on
one’s resume is nothing to be proud of, let alone boast
about.
The largest of After the
Sunset’s numerous problems is that it takes its
audience for a bunch of complete idiots. Viewers will
see each turn that the plot takes a mile ahead of time;
it’s so predictable, it’s shocking. Peculiarly, this is
entirely Ratner’s fault. Paul Zbyszewski and Craig
Rosenberg’s screenplay is noticeably clever, but their
director has done nothing to conceal the twists in the
writing, narratively. If After the Sunset was a
novel, all of the passages in it which contained
foreshadowing would be highlighted in bright colors.
Ratner’s execution is devoid of any skill, outside of
the suave craftsmanship of the many action and caper
sequences.
Thievery only makes for about
half of After the Sunset’s content. Much of it is
dedicated to the romance between Max and Lola, as well
as a budding relationship that Agent Lloyd and
native-islander Sophie (Naomie Harris) share. Of course,
the material is void of any emotion, whatsoever, so the
attention drifts away from any actual love and shifts to
sex. Salma Hayek’s beautiful body, in particular, is
focused on. (However, Pierce Brosnan does show his fair
share of skin, too). I’m certainly not complaining about
Hayek dressing skimpily and frolicking around for the
entire running length; she is very attractive. However,
it would be hard for me to say that After the Sunset
ever comes close to being arousing, in the least; the
market-friendly PG-13 rating limits it, in this area.
I’m sure that there will be a spiced-up Unrated
Director’s Cut released on DVD, though. It might be
worth my time, but my hopes for it are not high.
Before this movie, I had quite
a bit of respect for Ratner. Two of his previous
projects, Rush Hour (despite its truly awful
sequel) and Red Dragon, were both very good
films. For whatever fan-base he may have, this film will
serve as a downright letdown. Not to mention, the
likable Brosnan and Hayek deserve far better than this.
The same could be said for Harrelson and co-star Don
Cheadle, but their work is so downright awful here, it
is hard to forgive them for it. I was never really in
pain when watching After the Sunset; it is
strictly a mediocre movie without an ounce of
inspiration in its 100 minute duration. As a result, it
is prevented from ever being overwhelmingly terrible.
But, the fact that it doesn’t try to be anything more
than average is endlessly depressing. No moviegoer
deserves to be exposed to such a grave lack of ambition.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews (11.23.2004)