After the Sunset Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

After the Sunset Blu-ray Movie Review

Burdett. Max Burdett.

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 10, 2015

After the Sunset should have been better received and more successful. It features gorgeous locations, an appealing cast, an entertaining mix of thriller, mystery and romance, plus a generous helping of comedy, mostly thanks to an inspired performance by Woody Harrelson as a perpetually frustrated FBI agent who can't seem to get a break. Even the film's villain is funny. Played with silken menace by Don Cheadle, he's a Detroit gangster named Henry Moore, who has relocated to the Caribbean under the monicker "Henri Mooré" so that he can blend in better with the local culture. ("I put a little thingy on the 'e'. Matches the scene.") The leads are Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek, who have great chemistry as jewel thieves in love.

So what went wrong? In movies as in life, timing is crucial, and After the Sunset appeared in theaters during the messy public divorce between Brosnan and Eon Productions over his then-signature role as James Bond. The public, who largely sided with Brosnan, wasn't yet ready to let go of the image with which they'd associated the actor through four films since 1995's GoldenEye. Unfortunately for the makers of After the Sunset, Brosnan's character in that film had many qualities reminiscent of Bond—stealthy, resourceful, cool under pressure, irresistible to women—but yet he wasn't Bond. He lacked 007's ruthless streak, didn't use guns, and was trying to lead a quietly monogamous life at which Bond would have wrinkled his nose. Even the Caribbean settings of After the Sunset recalled classic Bond films, and one sequence, involving a chase through a Junkanoo street festival, was virtually a re-creation from Thunderball. Another, which used a remote-controlled vehicle, suggested a more elaborate "gag" in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Audiences in 2004/2005 wanted Bond, not "Bond lite", and After the Sunset didn't get a fair viewing. Today, though, when Daniel Craig's James Bond is uppermost in the public's mind, it's time to revisit After the Sunset for its diverting and unlikely mix of heist, romance, buddy-movie, thriller and absurd comedy. As it happens, the film has since picked up an additional Bond connection, either by accident or fate. A key supporting role is played by Naomie Harris, who is now familiar worldwide as Eve, the MI6 agent ordered, in the opening sequence of Skyfall, to "take the shot!" and, as a result, retires to a famous desk job.

Max Burdett (Brosnan) is the world's greatest jewel thief with a particular love for diamonds. With the help of his partner and lover, Lola Cirillo (Hayek), Max is capable of stealing a gem from the most fortified and secure conditions, all the while maintaining the illusion that he is somewhere else. In the extended opening sequence, Max appears to be attending an L.A. Lakers game under FBI surveillance, while he and Lola are actually stealing one of the three fabulous "Napoleon" diamonds, which is being transported by Special Agent Stan Lloyd (Harrelson) in a fortified FBI vehicle. Seven years earlier, Max stole the first of the three Napoleons while it was being guarded by Stan. The agent cannot believe it has happened to him again.

Six months later, Max and Lola are basking in glorious retirement in a beautiful beach house on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Well, Lola is basking, while Max is getting antsy: the same great lobster every night; dull tourists to talk to (the montage of dinner conversations, and Max's reactions, is very funny); and Lola pressing him to write his vows for their as-yet-unscheduled wedding. But Max gets an unwelcome diversion when Agent Stan appears on his doorstep flashing the brochure for the ocean liner, Seven Seas Navigator, which is due to dock in Paradise Island with a lavish diamond exhibit that just happens to feature the third Napoleon diamond. I know why you're really here, Stan says to Max. You're after the last Napoleon.

Lola is furious, accusing Max of lying about "retirement", while Max insists that it's all a coincidence. Still, when you're a famous jewel thief, retirement isn't so easy. The island's most notorious gangster, Henri Mooré (Cheadle), wants to hire Max to steal the third Napoleon to fund his expanding empire of drugs, gambling and prostitution. The sequence in which Mooré gives Max a tour of his operation, accompanied by his chief enforcer, Jean-Paul (Russell Hornsby), is a prime example of the understated wit that runs throughout After the Sunset, as Mooré skillfully blends the lingo of capitalism and social change to make rampant criminality sound entirely reasonable. (Cheadle's delivery is pitch-perfect.)

Max's skills at diversionary tactics are tested to the limits as he must convince Mooré that he's reconnoitring the Napoleon diamond's secure display on board the Navigator, while at the same time keeping Stan off-balance. The latter involves, among other things, transferring the FBI agent to the fabulously expensive "Bridge Suite" at the Atlantis Resort, distracting him with gorgeous masseuses (Shakara Ledard and Audrey Quock) and entangling him with a local Bahamian cop, Sophie (Harris), who is itching to make a case against Mooré over the protests of her superior (and former husband), Zacharias (Obba Babatunde). As if these were not enough balls to juggle, Max must also keep Lola from suspecting anything—a task at which he fails miserably. "You're cheating on me, Max", she say. "Maybe not with another woman, but with a diamond." The pressure on Max becomes so intense at home that he finds himself spending more time than he ever imagined with his arch-enemy, Stan: deep-sea fishing, scuba diving and even sleeping in the Bridge Suite when Lola throws him out. Max and Stan are found there the next morning in embarrassing circumstances by Stan's FBI colleagues (Mykleti Williamson and Rex Linn).

With multiple screenwriters, including the actors themselves, tweaking the dialogue throughout production, and adjustments continuing all the way through editing and post-production, director Brett Ratner shows a restraint not normally associated with the creator of the Rush Hour films as he keeps After the Sunset balanced on the narrow point of its intersecting genres. (The process is explored in the extras.) Harrelson's Stan gets the broad comedy moments, while the rest of the cast generally plays it straight. Their comic moments arise from conflicting agendas and, in the case of Brosnan's Max, the stoic fortitude with which he must bear being smarter than most of those around him. Hayak's Lola gives the film its emotional weight. She's the one thing Max cares for more than diamonds, and Hayak makes you understand why.

After the Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

After the Sunset was shot by the distinguished Italian cinematographer Dante Spinotti, who has been Ratner's DP of choice since The Family Man . (He is also Michael Mann's.) The film was Ratner's first experience with post-production on a digital intermediate, and he speaks enthusiastically about the experience on the commentary track, because the DI gave him and his crew the freedom on the set to overlook many problems, such as changing skies, that they knew could be fixed in post. As is almost always the case, the DP worked directly with the DI colorist to ensure that the color correction was accurate. At one point in the commentary, Ratner describes debating with Spinotti whether the palm trees in a shot were sufficiently green.

Because a DI customarily results in a reliable digital archival source, there should have been no need for Warner/New Line to create a new transfer for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which features superior detail and sharpness, rich and fully saturated colors, deep blacks that do full justice to the romantic Bahamian nighttime, and a palette that ranges from the bright yellows of the Lakers' uniforms (in the opening sequence), to the deep greens of the island vegetation and the warm earth tones of Max's and Lola's beach house interior, to the varied blues of the Caribbean by night and by day. The extravagant costumes worn by the crowd at the masquerade ball aboard the Seven Seas Navigator get their full due, as does the funkier scene in Henri Mooré's domain. After the Sunset was designed to be a visual feast, and the Blu-ray aptly captures the experience.

With an average bitrate of 24.92 Mbps, the Blu-ray clocks in near the top of Warner's usual range, which is good enough here. Certainly the image doesn't suffer.

After the Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although there are a few memorable set pieces on After the Sunset's 5.1 soundtrack (encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA), it isn't an action film. Gunfire is sparse, though it's loud and percussive when it occurs. Max Burdett prefers an array of (mostly) stealthy gadgets, each of which has a signature ping, whir or other distinctive sound that the soundtrack reproduces just loudly enough for the audience to hear. Some of the responses to Max's capers are more boisterous: law enforcement personnel running, shouting, sometimes shooting, with sounds coming from all over. An extended scuba diving sequence provides the usual sounds of bubbles and water pressure, and a sort of "chase" scene early in the film offers a few crashes that are different from the usual. Everywhere in the Bahamas, there's the sound of wind or waves (or both).

The dialogue is always clear, even with the local accents. The film's score, with its many shifts in mood, is by Ratner's Rush Hour composer Lalo Schifrin, who will probably always be best known for writing the famous theme for Mission: Impossible.

After the Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

After the Sunset was released on DVD in 2005 as part of the New Line Cinema "Platinum Series". I do not have the DVD for comparison, but it appears that all of the extras have been ported over to Blu-ray (with the exception of any DVD-ROM features, which the Platinum Series typically included). If any reader who owns the DVD notices missing features, please let me know so that I can update the review.

• Commentary with Director Brett Ratner, Producer Beau Flynn and Editor Mark Helfrich: Unlike many groups commentaries, the three participants manage not to talk over each other, which makes this an easy listen. (It may have helped that Ratner had laryngitis, as he announces at the beginning.) The commentary is particularly illuminating in conjunction with the remaining extras, which illustrate many of the topics discussed, such as the use of digital effects to fix inconsistencies in weather conditions and the many locations used to stand in for the Bahamas. Ratner's effusiveness is sometimes overwhelming—every other shot is his "favorite"—but he imparts a lot of interesting information along the way.



• Before, During and After the Sunset (480i; 1.85:1; 1:10:23): This feature-length documentary opens with an excerpt from the Charlie Rose Show interview included in full below, then rewinds a year to a pre-production location scout in the Caribbean that led to the selection of Paradise Island in the Bahamas. With well-chosen and crisply edited footage from numerous sets and locations, it's a light-hearted overview of the making of After the Sunset that captures both the fun and the hard work involved (including some very long days and nights). The documentary concludes with the film's L.A. and New York premieres.



• Interview with a Jewel Thief (480i; 1.85:1; 8:08): Ratner interviews Bill Mason, author of Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief.



• The Charlie Rose Show with Brett Ratner, Salma Hayek, Pierce Brosnan and Woody Harrelson (480i; 1.33:1; 18:25): An interview on the PBS talk show timed to coincide with the film's release.



• Deleted Scenes (w/Optional Commentary with Brett Ratner, Beau Flynn and Mark Helfrich) (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced; 16:48): The scenes are not listed (and cannot be selected) separately. They include the original opening featured in the trailer, various cuts discussed in the main commentary and several alternate endings.



• Blooper Reel (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced; 4:51): The cast obviously had fun making each other laugh.



• Special Effects Comparison (480i; 1.66:1, enhanced; 3:18): Mark Helfrich narrates a compilation of the film's visual effects, nearly all of which are invisible. Of particular note is the use of digital effects to create shots that Helfrich found he wanted in the editing process but did not have; a revealing example is the final shot in the collection, where Lola is sitting on her porch.



• Max and Lola Pretending to Make Love for Stan's Bug (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced; 1:25): This was an "easter egg" on the DVD.



• A Practical Joke Ratner Played on Brosnan (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced; 0:44): Ratner explains the joke in voiceover.



• Trailer (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced; 2:32): "The world's greatest jewel thief has finally decided to retire to paradise."

After the Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the many throwaway jokes in After the Sunset is that Max has rented a copy of Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. Ratner's film isn't the same kind of old Hollywood creation, but it aspires to deliver the same kind of glossy escapism, and it succeeds to a much greater degree than it was given credit for at the time. A big part of the reason is that the film doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a little like Max Burdett when he's working one of his elaborate ruses. You know it's a con, but he's so charming about it that you don't really care. Highly recommended.