The Saint (1997)

The Saint is the kind of slick, globe-trotting ’90s thriller that wins you over on sheer charisma: Val Kilmer turns Simon Templar into a one-man magic act, slipping through disguises and accents with a playful confidence that makes the movie feel like a caper even when the stakes turn deadly. Director Phillip Noyce keeps the pace humming, balancing chases, espionage, and just enough science-fiction intrigue to give the story a fresh hook without drowning it in technobabble. What really sweetens it is the romantic spark with Elisabeth Shue, which adds warmth and moral friction to all the high-wire scheming. If you want gritty realism, this isn’t it—but if you’re in the mood for stylish escapism with wit, momentum, and a movie-star performance at the center, it’s an easy yes.

The Saint wants to be a slick, globe-trotting spy romp with a romantic streak and a big sci‑fi hook, and on paper that’s a perfectly fun cocktail. In practice, it often feels like it’s borrowing better moves from superior espionage thrillers, with a muddled script that gets harder to take seriously the longer it goes. Val Kilmer has charisma and a few of the disguises are amusing in a “commitment over credibility” way, but the character work is thin and the romance doesn’t land with the emotional weight it clearly thinks it has. If you’re after tight plotting, believable intrigue, or a genuinely sweeping love story, this will likely frustrate you; if you just want a ’90s glossy caper with occasional sparks and don’t mind some nonsense, you might have a decent time.