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Written by Paul Zbyszewski and Craig Rosenberg; directed by Brett Ratner; starring Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek. Released to DVD on March 29, 2005.  It isn’t often that I find my mind drifting toward the writing of John Greenleaf Whittier, but upon watching the end credits of director Brett Ratner’s latest film, After the Sunset, I was surprised to realize that I had only Whittier’s famous words lurking in my mind. "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’" Truth be told though, my version of Whittier’s prose had been spiced up with some angry and less-than-Victorian additions. Having recently endured the painful cinematic experiences of Ladder 49, The Village and The Woodsman, I was ready for a film that was smart, original and, most importantly, fun; Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven being one of the best examples of this in recent memory. And the first 71 minutes of After the Sunset were precisely that: gloriously and triumphantly enjoyable. Then the bottom dropped out. Ratner (Red Dragon) tacked on an ending that may well have come from a different movie, and damn near rendered the effects of the film’s almost magical first hour null and void. It’s one thing to make a movie that wears on the audience from the opening titles on–Catwoman or Bringing Down the House, for example–it’s another thing entirely to create a movie that plays strong, funny and loose for 71 minutes, luring the viewer into a entertaining zone heretofore reserved for only the best popcorn movies, before then letting the film sink into the mire of extreme formula and stereotypically over-the-top studio fare that may feel out-of-place on late night TBS. A host of thoughts, suggestions and fierce words aimed mostly at Ratner and his two screenwriters ran through my head as I suffered through the last 26 minutes of After the Sunset. In a weird way, I felt like an eight-year old again. I didn’t think it was fair that Ratner could have led me on to such a degree, showed me what I could have had and then yanked the rug out from underneath my feet. For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: Ratner was an alternative ending away from a movie than might have in time rivaled the most glorious entertaining films of all time.  Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek star in After the Sunset as Max and Lola, two former jewel thieves and current lovers who, after the successful completion of their last score, retire to a lovely villa in the Bahamas in order to drink pink drinks and learn how to play tennis. When one of the world’s most famous diamonds travels to the island on a cruise ship, the FBI is so convinced that Max and Lola are going to make a move on it, they send an agent, agent Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson), to keep an eye on the two. However, the catch is (for the first 71 minutes, at least) that Max and Lola have absolutely no intention of stealing the diamond. After the Sunset is a glorious looking film. Containing the chic, lustrous gloss of the very best Bruckheimer movies and displa.html>spla.html>spla.html>spla.html>splaying the playful and mischievous style of the most insouciant Tim Burton films, it is hard not to be instantly drawn into Ratner’s world here. And, for once, that world is worth being drawn into. Paul Zbyszewski and Craig Rosenberg’s script is, for the most part, smart, original and funny. However, unlike most studio comedies, After the Sunset isn’t funny because of the variety of gags that were included it, but because the screenplay focuses on three likable characters who have a knack for making witty and well-phrased comments at precisely the right point in time. Unlike every other heist movie, including Brosnan’s somewhat similar The Thomas Crown Affair, the cat-and-mouse sequences in After the Sunset never result in anything; Max and Lola have no secrets, are categorically not trying to steal the diamond and, as a whole, are rather amused at agent Lloyd’s attempt to get them to reveal something that they have no plans of doing. Innocence is the most wondrous alibi. This produces some very entertaining sequences, the best of which features Max renting agent Lloyd a presidential suite at one of the island’s nicer hotels and outfitting him with near constant massages and specialty meals. "You can’t bribe me," Lloyd tells Max. "I’m not trying to bribe you," Max responds, "I’m just showing you that when you live like I do, stealing is the last thing on your mind." During the first 71 minutes of After the Sunset, Ratner allows his characters and the events of the film to settle into a harmonious and smoothly paced rhythm. This all changes at minute 72 though. Character motivations change, people start operating under a completely new set of moral auspices and ‘twists’ appear that aren’t even worthy of being seen in the worst M. Night Shyamalan movies. Who would ever have thought that adopting the value system of a different film during the last twenty minutes of a project could almost completely derail said project?  It’s rare that I dream wistfully about changing a viewing experience of mine–though I felt tortured while watching Sideways, I’m glad I can now talking knowledgably about the project–but in the case of After the Sunset, I really, really wish I had left the screening room at minute 71. Sure the movie would have been a little shorter than average, but it also would have been a whole lot better than average as well. I commend Ratner for the majority of his atmospheric work here, I just can’t help wondering what might have been. | |||||
