SummaryVal Kilmer plays suave espionage hero Simon Templer - aka The Saint - and Elisabeth Shue costars in this atmospheric mix of bold adventure and grand romance. An array of sophisticated gadgetry is at Templer's command as he plunges into a cloak-and-dagger netherworld of move and countermove. (Paramount)
Directed By:Phillip Noyce
Written By:Leslie Charteris, Jonathan Hensleigh, Wesley Strick
The Saint
Metascore
Mixed or Average
50
User score
Generally Favorable
7.0
My Score
Drag or tap to give a rating
Hover and click to give a rating
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
50
32% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
50% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
18% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
90
The Saint works. The reason why it occasionally soars is Kilmer, an actor who’s happiest when burying himself in eccentric characterizations, a trick he performs repeatedly here even as he fills the screen with pure movie-star dazzle.
70
Director Phillip Noyce, who made "Dead Calm," "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger," keeps things moving at a kinetic, involving pace. And writers Jonathan Hensleigh (who wrote "Die Hard With a Vengeance") and Wesley Strick create a diverting human steeplechase.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.0
60% Positive
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
40% Mixed
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Aug 1, 2020
8
I thought this movie was pretty funny and had a good plot. It was suspenseful and had some good acting by Kilmer and Shue.
Sep 6, 2019
7
Not sure why this gets hate, but I enjoyed it. I liked Val Kilmer in this, and I don't often like him. Elizabeth Shue was a delight (still gorgeous; check her out in The Boys), and it was generally a light, action thriller with a romance. It's totally dated, but there's something charming about that. No it's not like current techno-thriller fare, but you don't need to blow every damn building up and kill 5,000 henchmen to make a good action movie.
60
A generic suspenser that doesn't taste bad at first bite but becomes increasingly hard to swallow, The Saint comes off more as a pallid imitation of Paramount's Eurothriller "Mission: Impossible" than as anything resembling the further adventures of Leslie Charteris' charming rogue.
50
Kilmer slips in and out of a series of ludicrously elaborate disguises, some more convincing than others, while poor Shue shuffles through the role of a sexy, book-reading babe pretending to be a dowdy lady scientist in kneesocks.
50
Val Kilmer is fun as the mercurial hero, and Elisabeth Shue would be great as the physicist if she didn't waste so much time making googoo-eyes at her handsome new boyfriend.
25
While the original conception of The Saint gave us a debonair, sophisticated and roguish detective, the new movie, directed stiffly by Phillip Noyce ( "Clear and Present Danger" ), gives us Val Kilmer as a greedy high-tech daredevil thief with the moves of Batman, the clunky disguises of Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible" and the morals of an alley cat.
0
Top-heavy with whimsy, so muddled it makes Mission: Impossible look like a model of narrative cohesion, The Saint is the apo-theosis of the new incoherence, with the cliches of espionage and action thrillers jammed together like bumper cars.
Apr 6, 2025
6
Silly plot, ridiculous plot twists, awful acting... and yet such a fun movie, thanks to a tour de force performance from Val Kilmer. Also nice locations and a sweet love story. Suspend the disbelief and enjoy.
Apr 30, 2025
5
Think we went overboard on whatever cold fusion is. Poor Elisabeth Shue is given almost nothing to work with to develop her character or the romance with Val.
Mar 6, 2022
5
The Saint had the potential for more, but mostly thanks due to a subpar script it remains an average spy/thief movie.
Production Company:
- Paramount Pictures
- Rysher Entertainment
- Mace Neufeld Productions
- Robert Evans Company
Release Date:Apr 4, 1997
Duration:1 h 56 m
Rating:PG-13
Tagline:Cunning. Devious. Dangerous. Treacherous.
Awards
BMI Film & TV Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Razzie Awards
• 1 Nomination
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
• 1 Nomination
