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Laramie Movie Scope:
The Saint

A Bond-type movie with an escape artist for a hero

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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April 7, 1997 -- "The Saint" is a lot like the James Bond films. Tongue firmly in cheek, our hero makes more escapes than Houdini, while seducing beautiful women. It's an old formula, including caper films, but it still works.

Val Kilmer is the Saint, a high-tech industrial spy who uses the names of saints as aliases. He's a master of disguise and a wizard at breaking and entering. What makes him different than James Bond is that he doesn't do it for God and Country, he does it for money.

In an attempt to justify this larceny, as if there's any need to these days, there's a prologue in which we see the young Saint as an orphan in a Catholic orphanage. The head priest is, naturally, a sadistic ogre (hey, this is Hollywood, where any form of Christianity is evil and thieves are the good guys).

We see the young Saint pick a lock so his fellow oppressed orphans can eat. Then we flash ahead to where the Saint is stealing computer chips. Although he's still being portrayed as a kind of Robin Hood, he does have a $50 million Swiss bank account all his own.

The Saint is hired by a corrupt Russian official to steal a formula for cold fusion, obviously worth billions, if not trillions from scientist Dr. Emma Russell (Elisabeth Shue, who recently appeared as a hooker in "Leaving Las Vegas"). This handsom couple quickly falls in love and then are chased all over the place by the Russians.

If this had been a serious film it wouldn't work because there are just too many improbable escapes. But it isn't serious (except for the part about the priest) at all and, surprisingly, it becomes fun to see how the Saint will manage his next escape.

Kilmer and Shue are very good together and the bad guys are evil and bumbling as they should be. The special effects and stunt work are great. This is perfectly good light entertainment, if you ignore that little bit of seriousness. It rates a B. This film ought to make tons of money.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 1997 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)