Review of Saint (1997) by Allan C — 21 Sep 2012

I really wanted this movie to honor the look and feel of the 1960s Roger Moore TV series and sadly it did not. "The Avengers" film adaptation of that 1960s British spy series did that quite well, although the script for that film was an absolute mess.

It's kind of the of the opposite here with a decent script but dull execution, which is somewhat surprising considering the decent track record of director Phillip Noyce ("Dead Calm", "Patriot Games" and "Salt").

The film does come to life during the action sequences and Noyce does deliver the goods there, but the film has a really unappealing grey look that I think was supposed to have a "Third Man" sort of vibe and it just doesn't come off.

I wanted something more breezy and fun, and more akin to the 1960s TV series. I actually wonder what I would have thought of the film if it had made no pretense of being based up on "The Saint", although even in that case I think I might have seen it as being a so-so "Mission Impossible" copycat.

I suppose you at least get to see Val Kilmer in a lot of wigs.