Director James Foley's movie version of Jim Thompson's 1955 pulp novel "After Dark, My Sweet" provides an intriguing insight into the lives of three characters who've all seen better times. Their profound feelings of loss, despair and defeat contribute significantly to the downbeat atmosphere of the piece and its steady pace also reflects perfectly their lack of urgency, focus and direction.

In common with many other neo-noirs, the action in "After Dark, My Sweet" takes place in an extremely hot environment. Its story however, with its themes of betrayal, treachery and hopelessness is classic film noir material.

Kevin "Collie" Collins (Jason Patric), an ex-boxer who's escaped from a mental institution meets Fay Anderson (Rachel Ward) an alcoholic widow, in a bar in the southern Californian desert. She offers him a place to stay in return for doing work on the rundown estate that she'd inherited from her late husband.

Fay's acquaintance, Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern) has, for some time, been working on a plan to kidnap the son of a local wealthy family and he and Fay persuade Collie to join them in carrying out the plan but predictably, after kidnapping the boy, things start to go out of control.

Jason Patric's portrayal of the emotionally troubled and consistently misunderstood Collie is tremendous. He appears to be in bad shape physically and mentally but appearances can be deceptive as he's actually smarter than other people think and he's also quick to recognise when they try to exploit his apparent deficiencies for their own ulterior purposes. The experience of having killed an opponent in the ring haunts him and his attempts to befriend other people only attract abuse, exploitation or open hostility. His capacity for sudden violence at unpredictable times is also probably a manifestation of his despair and loss of hope for the future.

Rachel Ward conveys Fay's despondency and bitterness very capably. Her mood swings and reliance on copious amounts of alcohol often make her relationship with Collie uncomfortable and her purposeless existence is reflected in the rundown condition of her estate.

Bruce Dern is suitably slimy as the insincere and manipulative ex-police detective who's always working on a scheme and who patronises Collie because his flawed judgement makes him underestimate the one time pugilist. George Dickerson is also excellent in a minor role as the very creepy Doctor Goldman who befriends Collie, ostensibly to help him, but also for his own dubious motives.

The setting for "After Dark, My Sweet" contributes strongly to the atmosphere of the movie and mirrors very powerfully, the desolation which is such a strong feature of the lives of its characters.

After Dark, My Sweet is a great, modern noir, filled with seedy characters, dirt roads, and, of course, sweaty characters. It seems that most of the truly great noirs of the last two or three decades have taken place in the South, where the men glisten and the ladies, um, glisten too. Why? Because it's hooooottttttttttt. And because everyone looks better wet (at least the men do - sweaty women leave me clammy).

Anyway - there might be some spoilers in here.

This film is a wonderful example of everything a noir should be - steady pacing (though some with attention disorders refer to it as 'slow'), clearly and broadly drawn (though not simple) characters, and tons of atmosphere. Noir, if anything, is about moods and attitudes. That's why the great ones are not marked by your traditional definitions of 'great' acting (look at Bogart, Mitchum, Hurt, and Nicholson - they (and their characters) were anything but real - but they had style and sass and in a crime movie that's exactly what you want). or quickly paced adventures (again all great noirs seem to be on slow burn like a cigarette). Great noirs create an environment and you just inhabit it with the characters for a couple hours.

After Dark My Sweet let's you do that - and it let's you enjoy the company of some very interesting and complex characters. Uncle Bud and Collie are intriguing - never allowing the audience to know what really makes them tick - and Patric and Dern (I love Bruce Dern, by the way) are pitch perfect, Dern especially (see previous comment). They take the basic outlines of a character and give them depth and elicit our sympathies.

The story itself is also interesting. There're better plots in the world of noir (hardly any mystery here - mostly it's suspense), but this one is solid. If anything, the simply 'okay' plot has more to do with Jim Thompson's writing than anything else. With Thompson, plots are almost secondary; he eschewed the labyrinthine tales of Hammett and Chandler for simpler stories with stronger, more confusing characters. Look at a novel like The Killer Inside Me and and you'll see right away (from the title) what it's all about. When it comes to Thompson, it's not what it's about, it's how it's about it (to quote Roger Ebert). So, really, the relatively simple plot of a kidnapping is not the point and, if you don't like it, well the jokes on you.

Why this is an 8star movie rather than a 10star one is because of the female lead. She's not bad, per se, but she's not Angelica Huston or Anette benning (see the adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Grifters if you don't know what I'm talking about - besides it's a better movie and you should start there for contemporary noir - it's the best of the 1990s and challenges Blood Simple for the title of best since Chinatown). She simply doesn't have the chops (or the looks for that matter) and though she and Patric have some chemistry, I don't have it with her. So there.

An ex-boxer drifts into a town and becomes involved with a rich widow and her shady friend. It moves very slowly, which is fine if the characters are interesting or the plot is compelling, but that's not the case here. The characters are very poorly developed and the plot wanders aimlessly, making for a rather dull movie. Patric's performance is somewhat one-note, with that one note being a smoldering look. The whole psychological mumbo-jumbo regarding his mental state is not the least bit interesting. Ward lacks the allure required for her role. Dern does what he can with a sketchily drawn character. The direction is journeyman at best.