Saint, The - Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue (1997)
Synopsis of the DVD Movie: Synopsis
Simon Templar - a fictitious name a young orphan boy invented for himself in a Hong Kong orphanage years ago - is now a suave, debonair, international thief who needs to pull-off just one more exuberant heist to put him at the $50 million mark in his Swiss bank account (his goal amount for retirement). An easy job: simply steal Dr. Emma Russel's formula for cold-fusion, and deliver it to a Russian billionaire bent on sending Russia back to Communism - no problem, Right? Wrong! There's one thing Mr. Templar, master of disguise didn't count on ... falling in love.
DVD Movie Rating for: The Saint
3 out of 5 stars
Movie Plot of: The Saint
As a young orphan, a boy refuses to accept the name given him by priests and instead chooses to take on the name of Simon Templar after the Saint of magic. Speed ahead and the young boy is now a master thief in bidding wars with countries for his services. Using his skills of master disguise, he eludes all pursuers as he assumes names associated with the various Saints. In this role after stealing from a Russian industrialist, the industrialist hires The Saint to steal a formula for cold fusion being developed by a young female scientist. Cold fusion is said to permit a nation to heat its citizens with only a few gallons of water. However, on this case The Saint falls in love with the scientist placing him in a quandary of fulfilling his professional obligations or staying with the innocent young scientist. When she becomes threatened by the Russian Mafia, he has no choice but to go ahead with his job. However, she follows him to Moscow, setting off a chase across the City and through their sewers.
DVD Production Details of: The Saint
Starring: Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue
Director: Phillip Noyce
Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
Studio: Paramount Studio
DVD Release Date: January 8, 2002
DVD Features:
Commentary by director Phillip Noyce
Theatrical trailer(s)
Widescreen anamorphic format
DVD Easter Eggs
The Saint
Cast of the movie: The Saint
- Val Kilmer.... Simon Templar
- Elisabeth Shue .... Dr. Emma Russell
- Rade Serbedzija .... Ivan Tretiak
- Valeri Nikolayev .... Ilya Tretiak (as Valery Nikolaev)
- Henry Goodman.... Dr. Lev Botvin
- Alun Armstrong .... Insp. Teal
- Michael Byrne .... Tretiak's aide - Vereshagin
- Yevgeni Lazarev .... President Karpov (as Evgeny Lazarev)
- Irina Apeksimova .... Frankie (as Irina Apeximova)
- Lev Prygunov .... Gen. Sklarov (as Lev Prigunov)
- Charlotte Cornwell .... Insp. Rabineau
- Emily Mortimer .... Woman on plane
- Lucija Serbedzija .... Russian prostitute
- Velibor Topic .... Skinhead
- Tommy Flanagan (I) .... Scarface
Photo Gallery of the movie: The Saint
Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size, high resolution photographs
The Saint
Reviews of the movie: The Saint
Lightly enjoyable but a disappointment in the context of author Leslie Charteris's popular character, the Saint--who has been played by several actors, most notably George Sanders--this 1997 film is more in keeping with the requirements of high-octane contemporary action than it is the requirements of a particular legacy. Val Kilmer plays Simon Templar, the mercenary spy, who is hired to steal a fusion formula but falls in love with the scientist (Elisabeth Shue) who cooked it up. Kilmer's portrayal bears little resemblance to Charteris's rakish hero, and the film itself becomes increasingly improbable and ponderous the longer it goes on
The Saint is an adequate action thriller, but like Mission Impossible, it bears very little resemblance to the TV series that spawned it: so much so that in both cases one wonders why they even bothered with adapting an existing series. Well, name value and selling it to fans of the series, probably. But those are exactly the folks that will be most disappointed with the movie. Val Kilmer does the best he can, saddled with goofy disguises and accents. The plot tends to drag in the middle, the metaphors are obvious (Templar had his heart broken, Russell has a literal broken heart), and it's not until the end that the producers seem to remember that the Saint was a _fun_ character.
