Val Kilmer received a Raspberry nomination for worst actor for his performance as Simon Templar in the Saint. The truth is he plays the role so realistically with so many disguises and accents, that he completely steals the show.
Templar takes several disguises, using the name of Catholic Saints, on his jobs as a professional thief. This time around, the experienced and suave Templar steals a microchip from Ivan Tretiak (Rade Serbedzija) who is gaining support from the Russian public and military because Russia is suffering from a serious energy and oil shortage and the country is seriously suffering. Tretiak wants to overthrow the current Russian president and gain power for himself. In reality, he is secretly keeping all the oil to himself in order to ensure his successful campaign. Tretiak hires Templar, even though he knows he stole the microchip, to steal the cold fusion formulas from American Oxford scientist Emma Russell (Elisabeth Shue), because they don’t work, and so Tretiak can accuse the Russian President of wasting billions on useless technology. Templar ends up teaming up with Russell to take Tretiak down.
The Saint is on a level of action entertainment like we’ve all seen before. So on the whole; it’s not that well crafted, but rather a thin slice of entertainment starring Val Kilmer.
Now getting to Kilmer, I think it’s ridiculous that he got nominated for worst actor, but he’s suave, handsome and charming so much in his various disguises and accents that he, not the plot, becomes the main focus of the movie. As a result, the plot is also pretty darn thin.
It should have been Shue, not Kilmer, who should gotten the nomination for worst actor, or in this case, worst supporting actress. Sure, the character of Emma Russell is eccentric and peculiar, but Shue herself is unconvincing and doesn’t bring enough effort into the role.
The Saint’s director is Phillip Noyce, who has a passion for the spy genre.
The Saint was in essence a shallow and anti-climatic espionage motion picture. I’ll give it props for giving a try at becoming a worth able spy movie. It didn’t ever leap to what it certainly could have been.
** ½/5
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