Per Gunnar Jonsson

This is not really a “The Saint” movie as far as I am concerned. It has very little resemblance to the Simon Templar that we got to know in the TV-series starring Roger Moore in the lead role. I have not read the books so I do not know how well the movie actually relates to the books but I have to say that I was a little disappointed to see a Simon Templar that was not really…him. I have never really been a huge fan of Val Kilmer and I do not really think he is the best match for the role. But then, as I wrote, I really do not see this as a Simon Templar movie anyway so. Elisabeth Shue is totally unbelievable as a scientist. I know they had to pick someone reasonably good-looking to satisfy the script but still, she just doesn’t cut it as a scientist. The Russians are giving a much better performance. I quite liked both the Tretiak characters. That is not to say that this is a bad movie though. You just have to forget about the references to The Saint and Simon Templar. The latter is not very difficult since he really do not call himself Simon Templar in most of the movie anyway. What this movie is though is a fairly decent light entertainment about a skilled high stakes thief with a troubled childhood. I say light entertainment because the plot is really not much more than you would expect from a TV-series pilot. There are some fun action, some fun infiltration, disguises, a bit of high-tech etc. Just a mixture of some “fun stuff” making you go “okay that was not too bad” at the end of the movie. Oh, one more thing, I know that Simon Templar used to drive a Volvo P1800 but quite frankly, that was the only cool car that Volvo have ever made. Since the movie was so far from what I consider to be Simon Templar it is a real bummer that they had to choose that modern Volvo crap for him to drive.

Kamurai

Good watch, would watch again, and can't confidently recommend. This movie is definitely dated. Val Kilmer was still riding on "I was Batman" and a bunch of Hollywood actors had decided to have a go at being the next action (/spy) guy, and I think it was to try to knock Tom Cruise out of his position (like that worked). This international spy of mysterious origin, even with an entire backstory as a prelude in the beginning of the movie, just so happens to be targeting "cold fusion", so we get a sci-fi edge. The person that happens to make the most plausible progress on cold fusion just happens to be a "stunningly beautiful woman", Elisabeth Shue, with a heart condition to top everything off. The actual movie experience was good, I promise, but thinking back on things, it all sounds so ridiculous. There is a lot of underlying romantic comedy at play here, and if I'm honest, I don't think they movie knew what it wanted to be: mob movie, sci-fi discovery, rom com, action / spy, political intrigue, catholic revolution, or orphan identity. Most of the fun stuff is spy versus Russian mob or cute rom com stuff, but you could probably get a better experience for either in different movies. It's a good time, but given all the options out there, you're probably better off looking for a more modern spy movie.