A heist film, starring Pierce Brosnan, with some beautiful scenes in the carribean, has to draw comparisons to The Thomas Crown Affair. That's a better film, but After the SunSet is still fun. I have to confess, I'm not objective when it comes to any film with Salma Hayek but I'll try.
This film has the standard setup of a pair jewel thieves (Pierce Brosnan as Max and Salma Hayek as Lola), that pull off a last heist and then retire. Woody Harilson plays Stan the FBI agent that's been unable to catch them for seven years. Then, of course, the third in a set, of which they've stolen the first two, is on display on a cruise ship docked at the carribean island they've retired to. Lola wants to stop, but Max is bored with retirement and is tempted. Stan shows up and watches them but oddly what follows is mostly a buddy movie between Max and Stan. Don Cheadle does a fun turn as the local crime boss who wants Max to steal the diamond for him, yet another temptation.
The nice thing about the film is that aside from some extremes with remotely controlling a car, the caper works and has some good turns. The acting is a little weak. I wanted Pierce Brosnan to be a little less stiff and Woody Harilson to tone it down a little, and of course more scenes with Salma Hayek. The result is a film that isn't quite as engaging as it should be, but is saved because the end is better than the middle.
The DVD has some very good extras. There are a lot of deleted scenes which are pretty fun to watch and a good one hour documentary on the making of the film and a good commentary track. There's also a good short feature on the 150 visual effects used in this film, mostly to match up weather conditions from various shots. It's really remarkable how digital effects make film making process so much easier and aren't noticeable to the audience.
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