After the Sunset

Review By: Zak Santucci
ZakSantucci@TheCinemaSource.com

After the Sunset could very well be the best movie ever for one thing. I’m not going to tell you exactly why, but I’ll give you a hint. If they decided to change the title to something a bit more Rocky and Bullwinkle style, it would be called The Cool Diamond Heists Or How Many Bikinis Can we Put Salma Hayek in?. So that in itself makes it worth the watch.

After the Sunset is about a jewel thief named Max (Pierce Brosnan) and his wife and partner in crime, Lola (Salma Hayek). They love the chase and whatnot, blah blah blah, and decide to retire to a tropical island after their last heist. However, Woody Harrelson plays the FBI Agent named Stan who has been tailing Max for years and doesn’t think that he is quite the retiree that everyone thinks he is. This is especially true since off the same island there is the only Napoleon Diamond that is not in Max’s collection. Since Stan was terribly embarrassed in his never-ending quest to catch the famous criminal, he is anxious to catch him and exact his revenge.

One thing that you can’t help but love about Brett Ratner is that all of his movies have a strong sense of excitement, which is the sign of a passionate director. It’s the type of thing that the fact that Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan aren’t friends in real life, the viewer is surprised. I get the same feeling from Pierce Brosnan and Woody Harrelson in this movie. The movie is a lot funnier than marketed. In fact, it is more in the genre of The Italian Job and Ocean’s 11 than anything else (although it’s not quite as funny or exciting). It’s a heist movie, but nothing you want to respect too much. The friendships, comedy, and characters without a doubt, outshine the plot and smoothness of the crimes, which sets it a bit apart. The criminal-law enforcer relationship is played really well and I loved the chemistry between the four characters (the fourth being Harrelson’s love interest Naomie Harris). All that being said I just want to say that Pierce Brosnan does not play Bond/Thomas Crown in this movie. I think about his typecasting as the smooth thief/spy type guy, but in this he’s more the straight man in a comedy team. He lets his scruff grow out, his hair get a bit disheveled, and acts a bit more goofy. Twas a great performance. Speaking of which, for some reason it’s impossible for me to picture Don Cheadle as anything else but Don Cheadle playing a character in a movie. Like I can think that Pierce is Max and Woody is Stan, and suspend the disbelief there. However, I have never ...