
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997              TAG: 9704100704

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie review

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   54 lines

``SAINT'' MORE INTELLIGENT, ROMANTIC THAN EXPECTED

THERE IS A temptation to call the new, big-budget version of ``The Saint'' a thinking-person's James Bond. It is, indeed, a good deal more intelligent and romantic than expected. Val Kilmer emerges, finally, as a full-fledged movie star, complete with swagger and bigger-than-life posing.

Bolstered by still-unique location shooting on Red Square and throughout Moscow, the film has some semblance of style.

It is much more entertaining, for example, than the dreadfully convoluted ``Mission: Impossible.'' For some reason (perhaps the old-TV origin) everyone expected ``The Saint'' to have similar faults. That it does not is a surprise.

The title character, Simon Templar, was created by British novelist Leslie Charteris in 1928.

Kilmer, who gave up the Batman franchise to seek this new character (which obviously hopes to spawn sequels) may have made the right choice. Even though Batman is the title character, the actor assigned him played second, or third, fiddle to a group of flamboyant villains. Here, Simon Templar is undeniably at the center of the film. Kilmer seems to like eccentric characterizations. He scores markedly here.

His disguises range from a buck-toothed nerd (Jerry Lewis in ``The Nutty Professor''?) to a cleaning woman. They are not remotely believable. No matter. Kilmer plays them with such obvious relish that they're fun to watch.

``The Saint'' has two fine villains in the form of father-son Russian capitalists who hope to take over the world.

The only problem is that there is a formula for cold fusion that could provide cheap energy, keep everyone warm and ruin the villains' plans. Elisabeth Shue (Oscar nominee for ``Leaving Las Vegas'') plays the unlikely physicist who has the formula. Everyone wants it. Simon (Val) is hired to steal it.

The film turns into a romance, and Templar faces the dillemma: How can he steal the formula from this woman when he's fallen in love with her?

Shue is likable but not believable as a scientist. The goal is to make her a repressed ingenue who is finding love for the first time. It is not a good choice. Since Kilmer is assigned to play a particularly lewd and opportunistic go-getter, the match is uneven.

Notwithstanding, ``The Saint'' is a pleasantly stylish surprise. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``The Saint''

Cast: Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, Rade Serbedzija, Valery

Nikolaev

Director: Phillip Noyce

Screenplay: Jonathan Hensleigh and Wesley Strick

MPAA rating: PG-13 (some violence, brief sexual situations)

Mal's rating: Three stars