The Saint (1997)

The Saint adds to the tally of charming fictitious legends 'Simon Templar'. Along the likes of 'James Bond' and 'Modesty Blaise', 'Simon Templar' are more of a vigilante than anything else. While 'Bond' might be funded by MI-6 and have license to kill, and 'Modesty Blaise' equally tied to MI-6 despite not being an employee, they both have to operate on the side of the law eluding the police. So does our 'Saint'. I'll have to admit he isn't close to be as fascinating as 'Modesty', but I enjoy the fictitious world of 'Simon' ahead of 'James' any day.

I'm not that impressed by Val Kilmer though. He doesn't quite manage to pull of the cooler than cool charming gentleman. Elisabeth Shue on the other hand is quite a scene stealer. I still feel I haven't sen enough of here after Leaving Las Vegas and this in the late 90's. Also with this script she manages to come across as interesting, layered, and most definitely starving for loving attention and emotional growth.

The story is too thin. I wish they didn't spend so much time in Russia. The character they're selling needs a little more location changes to work. As mentioned do I also struggle with Kilmer, and then it's too few selling points for the character. Spending a lot of time crawling sewers doesn't help a lot.

I don't remember well my 'Templar' from my youth, but I've read they've changed a lot from the character in the novels. I think they missed on a couple of character choices made for the movie, but they could easily have missed worse. We find him somewhat layered, but the combination of missing establishment of his trade skills and Kilmer's acting makes me far from the fan I could have been.

Like so many other fictitious con artists, thieves and vigilantes, 'Templar' enjoys showing up despite the obvious danger. A typical ego trademark, but a most enjoyable one when they make it work. I wish they would have, I wish anyone but Kilmer had got the lead and I wish they had introduced 'The Saint' with a better script, because there's plenty of potential in the character. They're just not even close to reach it.