The Saint

"Never reveal your name. Never turn your back. Never surrender your heart."

1997 1h 56m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🥫

30%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.2

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 1,309🥫30%Rotten Tomatoes●50Metacritic★6.2IMDB · 76,221

ThrillerActionRomanceScience FictionAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret.

“Never reveal your name. Never turn your back. Never surrender your heart.”

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Cast

Val Kilmer
Simon Templar
Elisabeth Shue
Emma Russell
Rade Šerbedžija
Ivan Tretiak
Henry Goodman
Dr. Lev Botvin
Alun Armstrong
Inspector Teal
Michael Byrne
Vereshagin
Irina Apeksimova
Frankie
Lev Prygunov
General Sklarov

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Phillip Noyce
Writers: Wesley Strick, Jonathan Hensleigh, Jonathan Hensleigh
Languages: English, Russian
Countries: United States of America, Russia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $68M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Russia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Phillip Noyce, shot by Phil Meheux. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Terry Rawlings shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue and Rade Šerbedžija carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Phillip Noyce directs. Phil Meheux behind the camera. Graeme Revell scores. Terry Rawlings cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Russia. Dialogue in English, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $68M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
229 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.
4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Russia.
5Directed by Phillip Noyce, shot by Phil Meheux. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Terry Rawlings shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue and Rade Šerbedžija carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Never reveal your name. Never turn your back. Never surrender your heart.".
10IMDB entry: tt0120053 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "berlin, germany", "london, england", "gas", "based on novel or book".

The technical file

Cinematography: Phil Meheux
Original score: Graeme Revell
Editing: Terry Rawlings
Production design: Joseph C. Nemec III
Makeup / hair: Paul Engelen
Stunt coordinator: Greg Powell
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $68,000,000
Box office: $118,100,000
Return: 174% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Saint (1997)
Rotten Tomatoes: 30% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 50/100
IMDB rating: 6.2/10 · 76,221 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations total

Also by

Phillip Noyce

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Dark Jedi2014-07-02
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.
Kamurai2020-07-21
★ 6/10
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.
JPV8522021-06-02
★ 7/10
By no means a great movie but for some reason have been drawn to this one, seeing it 3-4 times over the years. For the most part entertaining though the dialogue was pretty bad, however I like Val Kilmer in the lead and shares some nice scenes with the lovely Elisabeth Shue. 3.5/5