|
MOVIE CRITIQUE & SYNOPSIS:
I suppose that there are many other men besides myself who would consider an evening spent watching Salma Hayek frolic
around in very revealing clothing not to be a wasted evening. Her beautiful face, smoldering dark brown eyes, and stunning
cleavage are all exhibited to ample effect, perhaps even over-exhibited to cheesecake effect, in this film.
So, on this point I will grant "After the Sunset" an "A+" while grading the rest of the movie a "D-."
I suppose that this averages out to the "C" that this film ends up receiving.
"After the Sunset" is one of those movies that you might be inclined to see because you admire (and enjoy watching
on the silver screen) one or both of its two main stars, Pierce Brosnan or Salma Hayek. For many, this will be reason enough
and, if truth be told, the movie does clip along if you don't think about it very much.
The "clipping along" part, however, only occurs because your brain goes dead when Salma Hayek, the ocean scenes,
the colorful life of the Bahamas islands, or Woody Harrelson and newcomer Naomie Harris are on the screen. All of these examples
of eye candy are a visual delight and, fortunately, they do take up a large part of the screen time.
It is only after leaving the theater and your brain once again kicks in after the effects of all of this overdosing on
the eye candy have worn off that you are finally able to realize that this is really a very mediocre movie.
First of all, Pierce Brosnan is just awful in this film. His normal masculine appeal is hidden behind a week old stubble
of a beard and, worse still, his acting appears to be on auto pilot as if he had phoned in his role from Ireland. The life,
the fun, and even the passion that Hayek and Harrelson bring to this film make Brosnan's performance appear even more wooden
and lifeless by comparison.
I don't have that much of an opinion about the chemistry between the two leads, but I do have to admit that I did feel
for Hayek every time she had to kiss that scrubble-covered mug that Brosnan sports throughout the movie. (Except in one short
scene where he is clean-shaven for a moment during a day where he is unshaven both before and after this scene. This is a
trivia filming discontinuity for you.)
Why people find this appearance to be attractive or sexy or manly is beyond me. I find it rather repellent and almost
an insult to Hayek, who has to put up with kissing this mess all of the time... And act like she enjoys it. Ask a guy to kiss
a cactus and see what kind of an answer you get. Why should a woman have to act like she is turned on by a scruffy appearance
that will only leave her with chapped lips and irritated skin after any displays of affection?
Well, enough kvetching about Brosnan's appearance.
Unfortunately, as far as the mechanics of a heist caper go, "After the Sunset" offers very little that is new,
inventive, or even marginally interesting in the field of the heist movie genre. The opening scenes of the robbery of the
second "Napoleon Diamond" at a museum in Los Angeles are fun and start the movie off on a high energy level. FBI
agent Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson) is trapped in an armored car that is driven to a secure drop off point by a remote autopilot
controller handled by über-jewel thief, Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan).
Thereafter the story quickly crashes as the filming shifts to the Bahamas Islands and most of the actors seem to be sniffing
a little too much "ganja weed." Everything slows down to Max Burdett's and Lola Cirillo's (Pierce Brosnan and Salma
Hayek) relaxed lifestyle in retirement and living in a beautiful oceanside home where Max smokes cigars all day long while
neglecting his face.
And just to show that they are "regular folks," Hayek dons a cap and a carpenter's belt and builds a new section
on the oceanside deck of the home. Yeah, right... She does look cute, though, swinging that hammer.
In this movie the actors become wooden places and faces and the beautiful places take their stead in the acting. I am
sorry to say that the lovely visuals in this movie are used as a crutch to support some very bad acting and a very weak story
line. This should never have been the situation as the acting and the story line should drive the movie and its locales, not
the other way around.
The film doesn't start living again until FBI agent Stan Lloyd comes down to the Bahamas to look up his old nemesis. Well,
he has a score to settle as he has been made the laughingstock of the FBI by Burdett's technical wizardry. Is his visit just
a coincidence or is there more to it, especially given the fact that a cruise liner with the third Napoleon Diamond on board
is soon due to dock at the island? This is the only one and the last of the three Napoleon Diamonds that Burdett has yet to
steal.
Lloyd wants to know why Burdett happens so conveniently to be living on this particular island. Or does he? He is the
one who spills the beans about this diamond to Burdett, who had heretofore sworn off partaking in any more heists to his long
time partner and lady love, Lola Cirillo. Is this a set up or something else, like an act of revenge or a vindication after
having been made a fool back in Los Angeles because of Burdett's "alleged" prior escapade?
A parallel story concerns a feisty Bahamian police detective, Sophie (Naomi Harris), who is trying to get the goods on
a transplanted American gangster, "Kingpin" (Don Cheadle). Kingpin runs an illegal gambling enterprise and most
likely many other rackets on the island. The honest Sophie is pushing her luck by harassing his associates and her police
captain, who also happens to be her former husband, repeatedly warns her to back off.
Kingpin spirits Max Burdett over to his palatial inland home and tries to bargain with him by proposing that they form
a partnership to steal the third Napoleon Diamond. Whether lying or not, Kingpin tells Burdett that he would like to use his
share of the proceeds for "economic development" for the natives on the island. The natives are prohibited from
using any of the island's playground facilities as they have all been reserved for use by the tourists.
The arrest of Stan Lloyd for carrying a concealed weapon eventually proves him to be a legitimate FBI agent who, as he
tells Sophie, is down there only to apprehend Max Burdett. When Burdett is seen in the company of Kingpin, Sophie and Lloyd
both see the advantage of themselves forming a partnership in the hope that one or both of these men can be arrested in the
act of heisting the diamond from its very secure location on board the cruise liner.
Romantic tensions soon form between these two lively and passionate law officers, and that is one of the few pleasures
of this movie.
A sad example of one of this movie's more desperate attempts at humor, an attempt which fails miserably, is when Max Burdett
and Agent Lloyd are forced by circumstances to spend the night in bed together at Lloyd's spacious suite at the Atlantis Hotel.
These scenes, played to supposed comic effect, are tasteless, pathetic and embarrassingly unfunny. Unfortunately, they
are like most of the rest of this movie. And quite a comedown for Burdett to go from the bed of the gorgeous Lola Cirillo
to that of Agent Stan Lloyd.
----------------------
|
