The Saint 1997
The Saint ★★½ 1997 (PG-13)
The plot makes about as much sense as that of “Mission: Impossible,” the villains are average ego-driven bad guys, and Shue's naive scientist/babe is totally unbelieveable (she's like a deer caught in a car's headlights). The only reason the movie works at all is due to the debonair, if angst-ridden, charms of Kilmer as superthief and master of disguise Simon Templar. He's hired by Russian strongman Ivan Tretiak (Serbedzija) to steal the formula for cold fusion from scientist Emma Russell (Shue) so that Tretiak can save a freezing Moscow by delivering cheap energy and thus make Russia a formidable power once again (with himself as leader, natch). Only problem is Templar, who names all his alter egos after saints, falls for Emma and tries to get them out of harm's way by double-crossing Tretiak. At least the Moscow and Oxford settings are scenic. Templar's exploits are featured in a series of novels by Leslie Charteris, and previously appeared in earlier movies and on TV. 118m/C VHS, DVD . Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, Rade Serbedzija, Valery (Valeri Nikolayev) Nikolaev, Henry Goodman, Alun Armstrong, Michael Byrne, Eugene (Yevgeny) Lazarev, Charlotte Cornwell, Irina Apeximova, Emily Mortimer; D: Phillip Noyce; W: Jonathan Hensleigh, Wesley Strick; C: Phil Meheux; M: Graeme Revell.