No, Val Kilmer's Simon Templar is not the same as Roger Moore's. but this isn't really such a bad thing. The movie is a really nice, underrated spy thriller. It's got action, romance, exotic locals, love-to-hate-em villains, a likeable hero, and a plot that doesn't strain suspension of disbelief too far. What more do you want in a popcorn movie?

I'll admit, if you're a real fan of the series or the books it might have been nice to have a movie that reflects the original a little more faithfully. But it might be well to recognize that the series was not without its faults as well. For one thing, it always bothered my about the series that Simon Templar is an unadulterated good guy, who never, ever does anything really criminal or base or rotten, yet everywhere he goes, the local authorities are watching him like hawks, as though he is some kind of arch criminal.

I'm also rather thrown for a loop that some of the reviewers here blast the movie for being unbelievable, and then decry Val Kilmer's Simon Templar because he's not like the "real" Saint. True, this version is not all that faithful to the spirit of Leslie Charteris' character, but that Saint was a freelance, adventuring do-gooder, a man who read the papers eager to find a cause to involve himself in. His moral code was strong, and his motives were also pure: he would never hurt, steal from, or kill anyone who doesn't completely deserve it. In short, the Saint was the Robin Hood of the twentieth century. Folks, let's face it, this is not the most believable character in fiction. I grant you, it's certainly fun, and it might have played well in the pulp era of the 1920s in which the character orignated (or even the early to mid 60s when the series was made), but the producers of the film probably felt (and perhaps not wrongly, let's grant) that this sort of thing was just too much for audiences to swallow in today's more cynical era.

If you can get over the fact that this is not really Leslie Charteris' Saint, then you will find this movie to be a really fun, entertaining spy thriller. I recommend it.