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Parents' Guide to

The Saint

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Uneven '90s action movie has violence, some drug use.

Movie PG-13 1997 118 minutes
The Saint Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 15+

Lots of sex scenes and romance

Definitely not for young kids. There are so many sex and making out scenes. We watched with my kids after reading Common Sense Media's review and unfortunately the review was not accurate. I thought it would be fine but we ended up having to fast forward so many scenes. Not great.
age 14+

Great movie.

Not for young kids. Several steamy love scenes. No nudity but a bra at one point. Violence but nothing graphic. Great mystery and romantic.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (2 ):

It's not the worst '90s action movie but it certainly isn't the best, either. It must have been strange and a bit difficult to try to make an action movie rooted in foreign intrigue in the years between the fall of Communism and 9/11. Without any clear-cut enemies, the best this adaptation of The Saint could come up with in terms of antagonists is a former Soviet Communist-turned-billionaire-energy-industrialist trying to overthrow the Russian government with the assistance of the Russian mob. Fair enough, but compared to, say, the gestapo or the KGB or today's "enemies of the state," a tale of disguises and unrelenting authority eluding in this context falls short. While there's still plenty at stake, there's just not as much at stake as saving the world from nuclear destruction or world domination by the bad guys.

Also, there's the issue of Val Kilmer, who plays the Saint. While he's not terrible, he's not exactly giving each new identity some kind of amazing performance either. While the identity of the "tortured artist" is funny in the context of Kilmer's performance as Jim Morrison in The Doors, in the context of the story itself, it feels completely beyond ludicrous that someone who is supposed to be as brilliant as Elisabeth Shue's character could possibly fall for such a self-parody. And there isn't even much chemistry between Kilmer and Shue. Overall, more likely to interest nostalgic parents than current teens.

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