The Saint (1997) 4K Ultra HD SteelBook Review: Val Kilmer’s Disguise-Heavy 90s Spy Thriller Finally Gets a Gorgeous Upgrade

There is a specific strain of late nineties studio filmmaking that just doesn't exist anymore. It's that strange mid-budget threshold where executives would toss $60 million at a director, rent out post-Soviet Moscow for a few weeks, and let a peak-era movie star run around wearing ridiculous wigs while pretending to be a master thief. Paramount's 1997 take on The Saint is absolute prime vintage for this era. It isn't a great movie by traditional standards, but it's wildly entertaining, intensely nostalgic, and completely committed to its own ridiculous premise. Now, Paramount has finally brought it to 4K Ultra HD in a limited edition SteelBook, giving Val Kilmer’s parade of absurd accents a surprisingly pristine physical media home.

If you grew up watching this on cable, you already know the vibe. Kilmer plays Simon Templar, a high-tech international thief for hire who names all his disguises after Catholic saints. He doesn't have a past, he doesn't have a real identity, and he spends half the movie talking into a micro-recorder while wearing plastic prosthetics, ridiculous glasses, or full-on drag. The plot kicks into gear when a Russian oil billionaire named Ivan Tretiak (played with delicious, scenery-chewing villainy by Rade Šerbedžija) hires Templar to steal a secret formula for cold fusion.

The formula belongs to Dr. Emma Russell, played by Elisabeth Shue. She's an American scientist living in Oxford who somehow cracked cheap, unlimited clean energy on a notepad while dealing with a weak heart condition. Templar glides into her life disguised as Thomas More, a moody, poetry-reciting artist with bad hair. The plan is simple: seduce her, steal the formula, take the cash, and vanish. But because this is a 90s romantic thriller, he actually falls for her, leading to a sprawling chase through cold war remnants, underground sewers, and icy Russian streets.

Revisiting the story today, it's hilarious how much of the plot hinges on pure 90s thriller logic. Cold fusion formulas are kept on crumpled pieces of paper in a brassiere. Simon Templar carries high-end laptops that look like bricks, running custom hacking programs that process at roughly three kilobytes per second. Yet, there's a charming sincerity to it all. Kilmer was at an interesting point in his career here. He was coming off Heat and Batman Forever, sitting right at the edge of his bankable movie star era. He swings for the fences with every single disguise. Some of the accents are downright baffling, but he brings such raw charismatic energy to Templar that you can't help but root for him. Elisabeth Shue does the heavy lifting on the emotional side, giving a sweet, grounded performance that sells the romance way better than the script probably deserved.

Now, let's talk about this release. Paramount is releasing this as a 2-disc limited edition 4K Ultra HD SteelBook, and physically, it's a solid collectible package. You get a nice metal case, the 4K disc, a standard Blu-ray, and a digital redemption code.

The main selling point here is the visual upgrade. Disc One contains the feature film with a brand-new 4K restoration pulled directly from the original camera negative, presented with HDR10 and Dolby Vision. If you've been living with the old, muddy 1080p Blu-ray or low-bitrate streaming versions for the past decade, the difference here is immediately noticeable.

Director Phillip Noyce and cinematographer Phil Méheux shot the film with a heavy contrast between cozy, warm English interiors and harsh, cold, metallic Russian landscapes. The new 4K restoration handles these shifting color palettes brilliantly. The Dolby Vision pass gives the transfer fantastic depth. Early scenes in Oxford feature warm amber tones, rich wood textures, and deep wool suit fabrics that look noticeably crisp. When the action shifts to Moscow, the HDR highlights shine through in the neon streetlights, wet pavement, and blinding snowscapes.

The black levels are deep and stable, which is crucial because a huge chunk of this movie takes place in dark alleyways, hotel rooms, and sewer pipes beneath the city. Grain structure is preserved naturally throughout. It looks like film, not a scrubbed-down digital mess. Fine detail on skin textures, Kilmer's outrageous makeup appliances, and period clothing gets a massive bump in resolution. You can literally see the weave in the fabrics and the individual layers of greasepaint during Templar's quick-change sequences.

On the audio side, Disc One carries an English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track, alongside a French 5.1 Dolby Digital option. Some physical media purists might complain that Paramount didn't go the extra mile to remix the movie into Dolby Atmos, but honestly, this 5.1 TrueHD mix does a stellar job. It's clean, punchy, and aggressive when it needs to be. The iconic 90s soundtrack, packed with tracks from Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Sneaker Pimps, and Eric Serra's techno-infused score, comes through with great low-end bass and sharp separation across the front speakers. Dialogue stays centered and clear even during chaotic chase sequences through heavy snow or crowded political rallies.

Where the release stumbles a bit is in the special features department. If you're expecting a massive batch of retrospective featurettes, brand-new cast interviews with Shue, or deep dives into the famous alternate ending that got scrapped after poor test screenings, you're going to be disappointed. Paramount kept things light on extras.

On-disc special features are primarily housed on Disc Two, which is the standard 1080p Blu-ray disc. The marquee feature here is the audio commentary track by director Phillip Noyce. Thankfully, this commentary is a fantastic listen. Noyce is remarkably candid about the chaotic nature of the shoot, the difficulty of filming in Russia during a volatile political climate, and the sheer logistics of orchestrating big practical stunt sequences. He dives into working with Val Kilmer, addressing Kilmer's legendary intensity on set and how they collaborated to build the distinct quirks for each of Templar's disguises. Noyce also offers great context on how the story shifted during production and the choices made in the editing room.

Aside from that director commentary, however, the rest of the physical media bonus content is sparse. Beyond Noyce's commentary, Paramount's 2-disc release focuses heavily on the film's debut 4K transfer rather than new retrospective featurettes or deleted scenes. It's a bit of a missed opportunity, especially given the notorious production history behind the original climax, but the quality of the main feature presentation makes up for the thin supplemental menu.

At the end of the day, The Saint remains a wildly fun slice of 1990s action-thriller cinema. It doesn't take itself too seriously, Kilmer is having the time of his life switching accents every fifteen minutes, and the nostalgia factor is off the charts. If you're a fan of the movie, Paramount's 4K restoration is easily the best this film has ever looked or sounded on home video. The SteelBook packaging is clean, the Dolby Vision encode is top-notch, and while the special features are sparse outside of a great audio track from Phillip Noyce, the technical presentation alone makes it a worthy addition to the shelf.

The Saint (1997) 4K Ultra HD SteelBook will be available to own on 8/25