Back Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle
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After The
Sunset
After The Sunset is a movie more memorable
for Salma Hayek in those bikinis than for the story. Forget that baloney
about being a serious actress and trying to win an Oscar in
Frida, Salma is showing off some serious,
sexy skin in After The Sunset. Brosnan
looks alright, too (if you're into that sort of thing).
Pierce Brosnan stars as Max - a suave, sophisticated, superstar jewel thief
living the quiet retired life. After one last great heist, he moved with
his fiancée and partner in crime, Lola (Salma "Bikini Babe" Hayek),
to a tropical island in the Caribbean, where they enjoy the good life. However,
Max is starting to get bored.
Their old nemesis, FBI agent Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson), has shown up on
the island convinced Max and Lola are planning to steal a valuable diamond
displayed on a cruise ship in port for its maiden voyage. This diamond is
the last of the Napoleon diamonds, and the only of the three Napoleon diamonds
Max and Lola have not stolen. Making the situation worse, the island's local
crime boss, Henry Moore (Don Cheadle), is trying to convince Max to swipe
the diamond, or else.
Is Max getting the itch to steal again? Is the retirement a big ruse?
After The Sunset isn't so much a caper
movie, but more about relationships, which is its downfall. The script from
Paul Zbyszewski and Craig Rosenberg is full of great moments between Lloyd
and Max, as well as Max and Lola, but we didn't come to
After The Sunset to see a romantic comedy
or a buddy picture. Even Zbyszewski and Rosenberg can't fully commit to this
path as they insert elements of a heist movie like the characters scoping
out the diamond's location, a possible plan to snatch it and more, but the
heist is secondary. That's a choice, but one to which they and director Brett
Ratner don't fully commit. The two competing genres put together become a
bit of a mess, with the relationship comedy not setting up the ending and
possible heist well enough, and a few twists unfairly coming out of nowhere
to fool the audience for the sake of fooling us, instead of letting us play
along. Sadly, the bad script wastes some good acting performances.
Brosnan and Harrelson make a good pair, especially as Harrelson puts in one
of his best performances in a long time. We know Brosnan can pull off the
suave, sophisticated daredevil role, but it has been so long since we have
seen a good role for Harrelson, we forgot about his ability (at least I did
as he spends more time promoting hemp than acting these days). He shows some
great comedic timing and a willingness to be foolish for a laugh, which is
appreciated as Lloyd and Max are put in some unbelievable and stupid
circumstances that are very funny. They make us believe the two rivals might
have an ounce of admiration for each other, which makes the movie more enjoyable
and could have led to a great twist instead of the lame one shown to us.
Hayek also shows her ability to charm as she takes the character and adds
some spark instead of being JUST a bikini bimbo. She makes Lola smart, capable
and Max's true equal, which makes the ultimate resolution between Lola and
Max too stupid. We know Lola is smarter than what is presented.
After The Sunset is a disappointing movie
that doesn't make it worth sitting through the fun stuff. We don't learn
more about Max and what could have been a very interesting study of his need
for the challenge. The script is sparse and over relies on Brosnan, Hayek
and Harrelson to make the dialogue work, and, for all of the build up to
something possibly unique and novel (an ending that would have been much
cooler than what we get), After The
Sunset devolves into a poorly developed and executed heist movie.
1 ½ Waffles (Out Of
4)
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