If you love Val Kilmer, you’ll love this film. And if you don’t
love Val Kilmer, I guarantee at the end of this film - you’ll fall
in love with him.
Val Kilmer is the protagonist of the film and also plays the title
role. This is one of the rare films that not just offer him a great
scope to act but also allow him to try out various get-ups. And does
he look adorable in each of them or what.
It is not like our Hindi films where they just put a wig or put reading
glasses and expect you to believe that the person looks any different.
That is just taking the audience for fools and for granted. Here they
have experimented with Val’s look with every get-up that he gets into which
is also a very crucial element of the story of the film.
Val plays a thief who deceives people with his false name and identity. His
mission this time around is to rob the formula for nuclear heat. The doctor
who has invented the formula is a young pretty petite woman with a weak heart.
So the obvious way to go about his mission is to attract her to him as a man.
Which he does. Although his human side takes him over at the first and he doesn’t
want to steal the formula but he does so nevertheless.
The opening shot of the film is where he climbs up a Russian building and steals an
important diskette. His look is that of a local Russian with short cropped hair and a
moustache. During his escape he just changes his get-up and turns into a tourist with
long hair and no moustache. This opening sequence itself sets the mood for the rest
of the film to follow.
After he steals the formula and gives it to the baddies he is still in trouble with
them because they don’t know how to make it work. In the meanwhile the petite doctor
has followed him all the way from England to Moscow just to prove to him that she is
head over heels in love with him. The mushy stuff aside both of them get into trouble
with the goons.
The rest of the film is how they get out and how Val proves that the formula is a success.
The highpoints of the film are that it is a very fast-paced film with very slick editing.
The performances by all actors is very controlled. Especially Val Kilmer who has a role of
a lifetime to enact in this film. And once again the make-up artists are to be commended for
their superb job.
The film makes for enjoyable viewing over and over again.