When you take a Caribbean cruise, you are likely to stop in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.  For my other project, Oh Man Disney (which you can find on TikTok and YouTube), almost all such ventures have seen us spending some time in that port of call.  In all those trips, my friend and partner, Isaac, has only gotten off the ship once, at least that I can recall. We visited the Atlantis resort for a few hours before he returned to our vessel and his beloved hot tubs.  I prefer to explore, and have come to love Nassau even if I am more interested in visiting other places.  Whenever I am there, I make it a point to stop by the cathedral, which is only a few blocks from where the boats dock.  Sadly, only one of these occasions has resulted in me getting to spend any time inside the church, but I am grateful for that one moment. Otherwise, I enjoy strolling the streets, seeing the reminders of their cultural celebration that is Junkanoo, and hoping to catch a cricket match.  Why am I waxing poetic about what most would call a tourist trap?  Because the city features heavily in today’s film, After the Sunset (2004).

Before we get to the tropical paradise of Nassau, After the Sunset starts in Los Angeles during a game between the city’s two teams of the National Basketball Association (NBA).  Being monitored in the crowd is Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan).  The reason for agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) keeping tabs on him is because of one of the agency’s own, Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson).  Max and Stan have a history involving the criminal always getting the better of the law enforcement officer.  As such, Stan is taking every precaution he can think of in order to stop Max from stealing the diamond the FBI is transporting, the second of three so-called Napoleon diamonds.  Unfortunately for the agents, Max has arranged for a distraction to evade those watching him, and he makes his way to where the gem is to be offloaded.  Once there, he traps Stan inside the vehicle and remotely drives it to a certain spot.  Tucking the pirated sport utility vehicle (SUV) into a hidden location, Max and his partner and girlfriend, Lola Cirillo (Salma Hayek), begin to break into the car.  Though Stan manages to get off a shot, wounding Max, the two thieves are able to incapacitate Stan and make off with the valuable.  From there, it is on to Nassau and retirement.  It is Max who has a problem adjusting to a non-criminal life.  While Lola pursues a number of hobbies to fill her time, he continues to think of ways of stealing things.  After sitting through a series of lobster dinners with a string of tourists she meets in various capacities, he is ready to ditch the routine.  Before he can make any rash decisions, though, he is visited by Stan.  The agent sneaks into the robbers’ home and shows Max a brochure for the third Napoleon diamond, which is coming to Nassau aboard a cruise ship.  Max protests that he is retired, but Stan leaves the material for him anyway.  Stan continues to pester Lola and Max at dinner the next night, prompting Max to call upon local police detective Sophie (Naomie Harris) to bust Stan for carrying a concealed weapon.  Once Stan’s identification is cleared at the precinct, Sophie agrees to help him under the condition that she shares the credit for taking Max into custody.  As for Lola, she is increasingly suspicious that Max is going to go after the one diamond he has yet to pilfer despite him saying that he has no interest in doing so.  On the other hand, he might not have a choice.  Also taking interest in the sparkling rock is Henri Mooré (Don Cheadle).  He is an American businessman turned Bahamian gangster who thinks that adding an accent to the last letter of his name makes him sound more exotic.  Despite again saying he is no longer leading a life of crime, Henri expects Max to take the diamond.  Henri’s excuse is that the money it will bring in will help him in his Caribbean humanitarian relief, even though he later reveals that he plans to use the money to turn a knocked down hospital into a military style barracks.  Instead of pledging to do the heist, Max plans it for Henri and hands over the schematics.  Meanwhile, Stan continues to watch Max, which only serves for them to become friends.  At the same time, Lola continues to demand that Max write the vows he intends to say when they get married.  He continues to put her off, but on the night he photographs the ship plans pertaining the diamond’s display case, she comes home to him claiming to have been there the whole time and jotting down his feelings.  A day later, she thumbs through his notebook and finds it blank.  Worse, he is not there to enjoy the first sunset on the dock she built.  It takes Stan talking to Lola, while Max does the same with Sophie for Stan, for them to obtain forgiveness.  However, Max has not forgotten about the job.  On the last night the ship is in port, Max suggests the four of them do some scuba diving.  While they are underwater, Max slips away and steals the gem.  It is Lola who notices that Max is missing.  Once they return to shore, Sophie gets an alert about the theft, and everyone assumes it was Max.  Lola packs her bags and is about to leave when Max finally says all the things he had wanted to say with his vows, promising never to steal anything ever again.  Yet, he is visited one last time by Stan, who reveals that he had figured out Max’s plan and had taken the stone for himself.  He is about to leave the island a rich man but Max takes over his limousine and keeps the would-be thief from departing.

If you departed before getting to this point in this review of After the Sunset, then I would not blame you.  As might be obvious, it is a heist movie, and they are sometimes tricky to describe in a manner that relates their cleverness.  I am not sure that label is warranted here, but we will stick with it for the time being.  What I wish is that Max would stick with retirement instead of trying to complete the trifecta of Napoleon diamonds.  His excuse is that it is just something he is good at, though that is clearly not true.  As is apparent, the act of stealing anything takes a number of skills, all of which could be channeled in some other manner, as Lola tries to do.  A Christian way of looking at this is to focus on those God given abilities.  Max’s Creator did not make him dexterous, smart enough to hack into cars and operate them remotely, or other forms of knowledge in order to use them for a life of crime.  After all, stealing is against the eighth commandment.  Because Max seemingly can think of nothing else, Lola refers to him as being a great thief, but not a great man.  She has more wise things to say.  In trying to encourage her boyfriend to find something else to do, she advises that it is about finding joy in the simple things.  My Catholic heart skipped a beat on that line even while knowing it is not intended to have anything to do with Faith.  At the same time, this is exactly how female and male religious, and even us lay people, are taught to experience God.  Many of us look for Him in spectacular ways, with beams of light and trumpets from on high.  Could He appear to us in this manner?  Of course, He can.  Still, can you imagine how exhausting that would be?  Instead, look for God in your day-to-day activities and you will find peace, like watching a sunset from your hand-built deck.

If you are into heist movies, then you could watch After the Sunset on your own deck.  Or not.  Honestly, this was not all that special as this sub-genre goes.  You might also want to avoid it considering its director, Brett Ratner, has fled the United States amidst a series of sexual harassment allegations.  I did not know this until after I saw the movie, and now I wish I had avoided it.