The Saint (1997)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Kilmer has a lot of fun becoming a myriad of different disguised faces, all sharing the names of famous religious saints. It's a light hearted, fun movie with very little violence, which is rare in most spy movies. Also, the soundtrack is rather nice with a good selection of 90s electronic artists like: daft punk, the sneaker pimps, david bowie, moby, and many others. It brought back a lot of memories on the music alone. Definitely not a bad movie and worth a watch on Amazon ATM. Check it.

The Saint (1997): Dir: Phillip Noyce / Cast: Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, Rade Serbedzija, Henry Goodman: What kind of saint is this? Val Kilmer plays a disguise expert in a heating oil shortage in Russia where he is hired to steal Elisabeth Shue's work formula. They fall in love, which contract problems when he cannot steal from her. Kilmer does what he can with a role of virtually no feeling or emotion. Basically he is as concealed as his character is when donning a mask. The romance between Kilmer and Shue is an unnecessary distraction. Shue is basically there for a scene where she heats him up when he is freezing cold. Then they are off and running in subsequent chase scenes. Director Phillip Noyce is backed by fine production but no story. He previously directed Dead Calm, and had to be after directing this high budget geek show. Rade Serbedzija plays a typical villain with nothing to do other than to cause plot contrivances. There are too many endings and not one none of them good except perhaps the closing credits. Rather than be about identity, it is hyped up with special effects and a lot of mayhem and loud noise. Hopefully some of that noise will be the garbage truck should be the final resting place for this foolishness. Score: 2 / 10

Val Kilmer plays a mysterious thief who has great skills including as a master of disguise. Ivan Tretiak hires him to steal the formula for cold fusion from American scientist Emma Russel (Elisabeth Shue).This is sort of like a Bond movie if James Bond put on ugly disguises in silly voices and steals for himself. The disguises look too silly. It diminishes the attempt to be cool and relevant. Instead of silly disguises, it should really concentrate on the spy tradecrafts. Val Kilmer does an internal dialog which could be better used to highlight his skills. The other problem is that there are too much Russian in this. I don't understand why Russia would have a heating oil crisis. It tries to be exotic, but ends up as unsatisfying.There is also the minor problem of Elisabeth Shue. She's supposed to be this weird loner scientist, and she doesn't have that persona. And she plays it as a love sick puppy to one of Val Kilmer's fake character. She is the all American girl next door, and they need a quirky scientist type. And the point is to get somebody else to replicate her results which means she's supposed to write out the experiment for them to try. It's a stupid idea that she would write out the formula and stuff it in her bra. I want to like this for Elisabeth Shue, but this is too silly.

This movie might actually be more interesting viewed now as a 90s period piece than when it first came out in the real 90s. Since most of the movie takes place in post-glasnost Moscow, albeit with icy Canada often standing in for wintry Mother Russia, the viewer gets a nice sketch of the effects of the end of the cold war on the people and economy of the former Soviet Union. As an industrial espionage thriller, The Saint is fairly predictable, but Val Kilmer has fun with his character's master-of-disguise shtick playing several neat cameos within the film that re-defined gentleman adventurer Simon Templar for the 90s. Shue makes a credible appearance as a sheltered academic everywoman dragged into intrigue beyond her previous experience. As an added treat, this movie also features the 90s-topical idea of cold fusion, now long since de-bunked.