Professional assassin Kiefer Sutherland (as Arthur "Joe" Banks) and his wife check into a hotel. After he takes out a huge gun, we switch to a dusty road. A lone car speeds, then stops. A frantic woman gets out, tosses her cookies, and starts to run. The driver turns out to be Mr. Sutherland. He wipes off his shoes, shoots the running woman, and buries her body. After having handcuff sex with a local waitress, Sutherland picks up down-on-her-luck diabetic Melora Walters (as Bennie Harper)...

Sporting a fresh cigar burn, and a handwritten "Paradise or Bust" sign, Ms. Walters is out of gas, money, and luck. Cross-cut characters Leslie Stefanson (as Donna Marbury) and Jamey Sheridan (as George Scanlon) reveal Sutherland is a high paid assassin; he specializes in picking up fly-by-night women as partners, and kills them when the hit is done. They are after Sutherland, who is on his way to assassinate a Mexican politician. This is an unassuming time passer, done in by a puzzling last shot.

****** Desert Saints (3/10/02) Richard Greenberg ~ Kiefer Sutherland, Melora Walters, Leslie Stefanson, Jamey Sheridan

Bennie Harper (Melora Walters): You sure are a tough guy. Arthur Banks(Kiefer Sutherland): What are you talking about? Bennie Harper: You talk like a tough guy, you walk like a tough guy, you even order drinks like a tough guy... Arthur Banks: I'm not a tough guy - I'm just careful! Bennie Harper: Careful of what? Arthur Banks: Of pretty women...

Well, he wasn't careful enough, but I can't say any more that that without giving it away. Suffice it to say that this was a very interesting story about hit-man Banks, and a girl he picked up (Harper) to help him complete a job. The two acted like an old married couple as they haggles, and argues, and generally got on each others nerves until the job was done.

In the meantime, they are being chased by the FBI in the persons of Rachel Ticotin (Con Air, Total Recall) and Jamey Sheridan ("Law & Order: Criminal Intent").

But the film belonged to Walters (Boogie Nights, Magnoloa) and her gorgeous breasts, and to Sutherland ("24").

Richard Greenberg, the director of "Desert Saints", has been involved with a lot of movies as an assistant director. It's clear he has learned his craft well. This film, which he co-wrote with Waley Nichols, came as a total surprise, not having seen it before.

If you haven't seen the film, please stop reading here.

Arthur Banks is a hired killer. Arthur is an educated man, who has gone to the other side of the law because he is an impeccable man as far as doing his job well for a lot of money. Don't double cross him though, because he will take care of anyone that dares to do so in a cool and detached manner, as we see him do as the film opens.

When he meets Beenie, we wonder why is he taking a chance on the hitchhiking girl, or for that matter, what makes the girl go with this stranger, who might be a criminal on the loose. How naive can this woman be? Of course, this chance meeting is what is at the heart of the movie, as we shall see later on. In fact, Banks seems to have hand picked Beenie to mold her into his own plan.

In the meantime, we watch as FBI agents are following Banks' trail all over Arizona. They know he is heading south to Mexico, but what is he going to do there? Arthur Banks is planning to take down a Mexican political figure, but things change for him unexpectedly as he prepares to do his thing.

The last sequence is intriguing because it's something unexpected, as we watch how Beenie fools the people that want to talk to her. It appears that Beenie has a friend who has been working with her from within, but will Beenie be able to fool Arthur Banks? Well, your guess is as good as anyone's because the ambiguous ending the cunning director has given his story.

The film works because of Kiefer Sutherland's take on Arthur Banks. This actor always can be counted to deliver in anything he does. Besides his good looks, Mr. Sutherland projects an intelligence as he plays the character he is portraying on the screen, as proved by his many other films.

Melora Walters is also effective as Beenie, an enigmatic figure once we get to see her operate. Jamey Sheridan makes sense of his agent Scanlon, the man pursuing Banks through the desert. Leslie Stefanson's role shows a woman who might not be what she is supposed to be. Rachel Ticotin has a couple of good and hot scenes with Mr. Sutherland.

"Desert Saints" is a film that surprises because the direction by Richard Greenberg.