'After The Sunset' (PG-13) (out of four popcorns)

The appeal of jewelry heist films is watching the planning and the anticipation of exactly how the thieves will nab their booty and make their getaway.

That is one of the main flaws of "After The Sunset." It starts off with a cleverly executed heist, but after that, there isn't anywhere to go -- especially when the thieves decide to retire from the biz and ride off into the sunset to land on a tropical isle. The momentum is lost and the film has to work even harder to get it started again.

Max (Pierce Brosnan) and Lola (Salma Hayek) are jewel thieves with a special affinity for a set of three gems known as the Napoleon Diamonds. For years, they have been playing a cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Stanley Lloyd (Woody Harrelson), always slipping from his grasp just as he thinks he has won. When Lloyd thinks he finally has them beat, they pull off an ingenious plan, making off with the diamond he was carrying and the agent's reputation.

They escape to the lush life on Paradise Island, home of the opulant Atlantis hotel. (At times, the film feels like a shameless, extended plug for the extravagant resort). After too much time in paradise, Max gets itchy fingers and Lloyd shows up with just the salve for that itch -- the last of the Napoleon Diamonds will be on a cruise ship in the island's port for a limited time.

Will Max and Lola stay with their plan to retire and get married? Will they give in to temptation one last time? And why is Lloyd there in the first place? Is he trying one last time to catch them in the act, or does he have a different agenda? Added to the mix is a gangster who calls himself Henri Moré (Don Cheadle), who is bringing gambling, drugs and prostitution to the island's poor and wants to extend his reach with the help of the Napoleon sparkler.

Frankly, Brosnan has done this kind of movie before and he isn't really exploring any new ground -- unless you count his Laurel and Hardy-type routines with Harrelson. The comedy seems forced and doesn't move the movie forward. In fact, comedy bits -- like the two of them wrestling with a shark -- almost stop the action dead in its tracks. But at least Brosnan and Harrelson have some comic chemistry, which is more than I can say about his sexual chemistry with Hayak.

I have always had a soft spot for Brosnan, but in this movie I don't find him the least bit attractive and that makes it harder for me to believe that a smoking beauty like Hayak would stick around. Brosnan's Max always walks around with two-days growth of beard on his grizzled face, he has a potbelly and spends half the movie with his shirt off. Not a pretty sight.

"After The Sunset" has some pretty scenery (including Hayek), but the story fades away from memory as quickly as the sun goes down.