Pierce Brosnan’s Panned Heist Movie ‘After the Sunset’ Finds Success on Netflix

When a movie isn’t a massive hit at the box office, the first thing it gets called is a “flop.” Sure, it didn’t bring in more than its budget, or the performances weren’t as good as the hype surrounding the production. However, what if it simply wasn’t appreciated at the time? Sometimes, it takes a new set of eyes or ears decades later for a project to get the recognition it deserves. Such a time has come for Pierce Brosnan‘s 2004 action-packed heist thriller, After the Sunset, which has now entered the Netflix Top 10, sitting at #5. The film wasn’t a success during the year it premiered, but none of that matters now.

After the Sunset stars Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief who plays a game of “steal the diamonds” as Woody Harrelson’s character, FBI agent Stanley “Stan” Lloyd, is watching him closely. Alongside Brosnan and Harrelson, the film also stars Salma Hayek Pinault as Lola Cirillo, Don Cheadle as Henri Mooré, Naomie Harris as Sophie, Rex Linn as FBI Agent Kowalski, Mykelti Williamson as FBI Agent Stafford, Troy Garity as Luc, and more. There’s clearly a plot, but some of the events in the movie are oddly confusing, which is probably the reason why its Rotten Tomatoes score stands at just 18%. But as some of the critics on the platform have said, it’s a “decent” heist flick.

In the movie, Lloyd is assigned the job of transporting the second of three famous diamonds, known as the Napoleon diamonds, that super-thief Max is planning to steal. It’s well-known that Max is going after the diamond, and supposedly, the perfect person to prevent this is Lloyd. And so, the game is afoot as a cat-and-mouse chase with various twists and turns ensues. After the Sunset is now ranked #5 in Neflix’s Top 10 alongside the John Cena action movie Freelance, hit animated fantasy KPop Demon Hunters, the romance movie My Oxford Year, and Adam Sandler’s long-awaited sports comedy, Happy Gilmore 2. You can check out the official synopsis for After the Sunset below:

Having already stolen two from the set of three priceless Napoleon Diamonds, expert jewel thief Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) decides to retire on a tropical island with his girlfriend and partner-in-crime, Lola (Salma Hayek). Fate intervenes, however, when Max discovers the third and final diamond is sitting on a docked cruise ship on his very island. It should be a simple job, but FBI agent Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson) shows up to make sure Max doesn’t get any ideas.

Pierce Brosnan & Woody Harrelson Had a Blast Filming ‘After the Sunset’

Directed by controversial filmmaker Brett Ratner with a story by Paul Zbyszewski, After the Sunset may have failed to ignite the silver screen (of course, it’s now finding some long-awaited success on the small screen), but it was fun to be on set, according to Brosnan and Harrelson. During their joint interview with IGN, Brosnan said:

“We just kind of liked each other. Salma, Woody and I, we just got on. I don’t know how that happens. It comes from respecting each other’s work and she had her moments of doing it. I try to keep a low profile as much as possible. Just try to make sure that the script is in shape and my character has some kind of meaning and some kind of arc to him if you want to use that overused term. But believability, go in and do it and go home, and hopefully there’s not too much nonsense and shouting and screaming…”

Source: IGN

After the Sunset

Release Date

November 12, 2004

Runtime

97 minutes

Writers

Craig Rosenberg, Paul Zbyszewski

Producers

Beau Flynn, James M. Freitag, Jay Stern, Alissa Ferguson