After the Sunset

After the Sunset
International poster
Directed by	Brett Ratner
Produced by	Beau Flynn Jay Stern Tripp Vinson
Written by	Paul Zbyszewski Craig Rosenberg Story: Paul Zbyszewski
Starring	Pierce Brosnan Salma Hayek Woody Harrelson Don Cheadle
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	Dante Spinotti
Editing by	Mark Helfrich
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	November 10, 2004 (2004-11-10) United States: November 12, 2004 (2004-11-12)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Box office	$61,347,797

After the Sunset is a 2004 action comedy film starring Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief caught in a cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Stan Lloyd played by Woody Harrelson. The film was directed by Brett Ratner and shot in The Bahamas.

Plot

After the Sunset begins with master thieves Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) and his beautiful accomplice, Lola Cirillo (Salma Hayek), stealing the second of three famous diamonds known as the Napoleon diamonds from FBI Agent Stanley P Lloyd (Woody Harrelson). Max however is shot by Lloyd before he passes out from being gassed by them. Max survives and tells Lola to get the diamond. She does and leaves a one dollar bill in its place. They then retire to Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Their financial future is set, their career in crime a thing of the past. However, Agent Lloyd refuses to believe their retreat into domesticity. After six months, Lloyd shows up, breaks into Max's house, and starts searching for evidence: taking the bullet he shot Max with. Max arrives and points a gun at him while he is relaxing, prompting Lloyd to draw his. They lower their guns and Lloyd accuses Burdett of hiding out in the same place where a cruise ship is displaying the final Napoleon diamond and the only one he hadn't stolen. He thinks the two are planning to lift the third Napoleon diamond, and complete the set. Max denies this and Lloyd leaves with a movie Max thinks he will learn something from. Lola at first suspects Max is getting ready for another job, but he convinces her he isn't because she chose that island. When she discovers the bullet is gone, she tells Max who panics. She tells him she'll get it back. She hires two masseuse to get it back and they succeed. She then tells Max to get rid of it.

Burdett unwittingly turns the tables and befriends the frustrated detective Lloyd, showing him the pleasures that Paradise Island has to offer, even paying for the most expensive suite, the bridge suite, for as long as Lloyd was there. Lloyd, out of his element, adapts quickly to the easy-going Caribbean lifestyle. Despite his pleas of innocence, Burdett's curiosity gets the better of him and he starts casing the ship. However, not only does Lloyd suspect that he's ready for ‘one more’ job, so does the local thug, Henri Mooré (Don Cheadle) whose bodyguard threatens Burdett to give him a ride to his boss' where he tries to get him to steal the diamond for him so he can extend his humanitarian business.

Burdett, still wanting the diamond for himself, pretends to work with Mooré, and gives him a fake plan as to how he would steal the diamond (which he earlier related to Stan). Stan however has teamed up with local police constible Sophie (Naomie Harris) to catch Burdett, and tails him to Junkanoo, a local parade, where Max loses him, warning that he shouldn't tail so closely before he is hit in the face by a tuba player swinging his tuba by Max's request.Lola kicks Max out after he breaks his promise to spend their first sunset on her new deck she had been working on and after she finds out he lied about writing his vows to her. Max is forced to bunk with Stan, and they share their thoughts about each other's lives. The next morning, the authorities and Sophie discover them, revealing that Stan's FBI license is suspended.

Later, while eating breakfast, the two come up with a plan to get Sophie and Lola back, involving a scuba diving trip(the scuba diving part Lloyd was unaware of). Mooré's man prepares to attempt to steal the Napoleon diamond, providing a diversion for Burdett to steal it himself. He switches place with an accomplice. Lola later discovers this and cuts off Stan's air supply to keep him from learning it. Meanwhile Henri's man is caught and arrested and Max steals the diamond. He then returns and saves Stan before he dies. On land, Sophie gets the call about the diamond being stolen. Sophie searches Max, but finds nothing. Stan and she angrily leave, while Lola prepares to leave Max. However, she is stopped by Mooré, who threatens to kill her if Max doesn't tell him where the diamond is. Fortunately, Stan arrives and shoots him twice, killing him. Lola is nevertheless unfazed, and leaves Max anyway. After spending the night alone in their home, he realizes he wants her back, and catches her just before she leaves, promising her she is his only jewel from then on. He then proposes with "the first diamond I ever bought" in his words. She accepts on the condition that she get the receipt.

The next day, Max is met by Stan while celebrating, who tells him he was never drunk the night Burdett had to bunk with him, and entails how he let Max do all the work while he later recovered the diamond. Max concedes that his nemesis has won this time, and is simply happy to live out his life with and watch sunsets with Lola. However, he has fun with Stan when he tries to leave by remote controlling his car again, promising Lola it is the last time.

Cast

• Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett
• Salma Hayek as Lola Cirillo
• Woody Harrelson as Stan Lloyd
• Don Cheadle as Henri Mooré
• Naomie Harris as Sophie
• Rex Linn as Agent Kowalski, a fellow FBI agent.
• Mykelti Williamson as Agent Stafford
• Troy Garity as Luc
• Obba Babatundé as Zacharias
• Michael Bowen as FBI Driver
• Mark Moses as Lakers FBI Agent
• Chris Penn as Rowdy Fan
• Joel McKinnon Miller as Wendell
• Alan Dale as Security Chief
• John Michael Higgins as Hotel Manager (uncredited)

The film also features several cameos, including Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Phil Jackson, Jeff Garlin, Dyan Cannon, Edward Norton and Shaquille O'Neal as themselves.

Production

Paul Zbyszewski's original screenplay for After the Sunset was discovered by producers Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson, both known for producing movies such as Tigerland (2000) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). The script was purchased by New Line Cinema and the producers hired Australian screenwriter Craig Rosenberg to create a re-write. Both the studio and the producers agreed that their first choice for the role of master thief Max Burdett was Pierce Brosnan.^[1] Salma Hayek, Oscar-nominated for her performance in Frida (2002), was the next to join the cast.^[2]

Next to join the project was director Brett Ratner.^[3] The film had originally been tipped to be directed by John Stockwell but Stockwell dropped out due to creative differences.^[4] Talking about joining the movie, Ratner said: “I love caper films. There are so many great films in this genre, but what makes After the Sunset different is that it’s a heist movie that has a combination of great relationships, heart and comedy."

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan were both offered to film cameos as American police officers (a nod to the Rush Hour series which Brett Ratner also directed) but turned them down.

With the two leads set, Woody Harrelson was cast in the role of Burdett’s nemesis, FBI agent Stanley Lloyd.^[5] Harrelson said during promotion: "When this movie came along, I loved it right away." Don Cheadle's casting marked a third collaboration with Ratner, following The Family Man (2000) and Rush Hour 2 (2001). The role of Sophie, the Bahamian cop, was the next role to be cast. British actress Naomie Harris landed the part.^[6]

With the majority of the script set on an island in the Caribbean, the filmmakers decided to shoot in the Bahamas, Basing their production out of Kerzner International's Atlantis resort in Nassau, cast and crew flew in from Los Angeles, Miami and New York to commence filming.

Reception

After the Sunset was generally panned by critics and has a 19% approval rating based on 134 reviews from critics at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.^[7] At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a rating of 38/100 based on 32 reviews.^[8]

Box office

The film opened at #3 in the North American Box Office, earning $11,100,392 in its opening weekend, with its widest release in 2,819 theaters. It grossed $28,331,233 domestically and $33,016,564 in international markets, adding up to a worldwide gross of $61,347,797.^[9]

References

External links

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived October 12, 2004)
• Official DVD website
• After the Sunset at the Internet Movie Database
• After the Sunset at AllRovi
• After the Sunset at Box Office Mojo
• After the Sunset at Rotten Tomatoes