The Same Great Characters with a Not-So-Slight Hiccup

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2017)

Before Sunset follows Jesse and Celine 9 years after they first met as they meet up once more and hang out for the hour or so before Jesse has to catch a plane.
Similar to 'Before Sunrise', this is a movie about the same two people talking. And that's it. No real plot or anything, it's just a reunion. And it still works. These characters haven't lost their flair quite yet, it's still interesting to watch them interact with one another.
Once again, the acting is all pretty solid as well, with both Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy pulling off great performances. And as per usual, they play off of each other very well.
And yet again, the writing is good. The characters have realistic, yet semi important, conversations that are rarely boring or uninteresting.
Still, with a movie like this the pacing does suffer. There are scenes in this movie that dragged more than they should have, and they were noticeable. It was noticeable when they picked up again, and they were noticeable when they started, for no particular reason really. It's just how the movie is structured.
This review has been a rehash of the one I wrote for 'Before Sunrise', although I do have one new thing to say. There's a scene towards the 1 hour mark where one of the characters has a sudden outburst and it's kind of out of place. Everything's going well and their conversations are wrapping up and suddenly one of them just gets super mad and starts ranting. While it wasn't totally out of nowhere, it noticeably changed the tone so quickly that it was hard to ignore.
Overall Before Sunset is, while good, not as good as it's predecessor. Everything good about the first one is good in the second one, but tonally this sequel has some challenges. In the end I would only recommend this movie if you liked the first one. There's really nothing new here from the first one.