Spartan

'Spartan' may be the best spy movie ever made by a practicing playwright/director. Director and frequent screen writer David Mamet ('House of Games,' 'State and Main,' 'Spanish Prisoner,' 'Heist,') has crafted a thriller peppered with his stylized, epigrammatic dialogue that takes on the presidency and world corruption in equal parts of vitriol and savvy. The Pulitzer Prize winner of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' shows he can keep suspense without sacrificing intelligence.

When special ops officer Scott (Val Kilmer, 'Wonderland') describes himself as no 'planner. I ain't a thinker. I never wanted to be,' I knew I was in Mamet territory, where the speeches are street-poetic, terse, and redolent of subtext. Scott eventually has to be more than just an obedient Spartan, as he moves to the conscientious soldier who begins to see much more than just the kidnapping of the president's daughter.

Mamet lets us see that this plot is much more than a potboiler about the lost daughter of a lascivious, ruthless president, for it comments on the hidden forces behind the electoral process. Typical of Mamet, there is much more than what the eye thinks it sees. In fact, I must remind myself to have students write essays about appearance and reality in Mamet's films.

Kilmer is once more a surprise--he is one of our most underrated film actors. When he played an FBI agent in 'Thunderheart,' I was impressed by his low-key interpretation of a Native American in hiding. I am slowly becoming a fan by shedding my feelings that after successfully playing Jim Morrison, he could never successfully play anyone else. As Scott he too must shed his old ways from being a 'worker bee' to being an operative affecting world politics by following his instincts rather than his orders.

Some might claim Mamet loads his dramatic dice with contrived plot twists. I claim he develops his characters with such precision and care that his plots exemplify 'distributed exposition,' where each turn is another piece of the character puzzle.

Denys Arcand must be credited for bathing me in languid prose in 'Barbarian Invasion.' David Mamet must be credited for reinvigorating me with muscular prose. Both writers outstrip David Koepp's lame attempt to reveal a writer in heat in 'Secret Window,' starring Johnny Depp as a Stephen King surrogate.

The title 'Spartan' has several possible meanings, including the Battle of Thermopylae allusion in the film. However, the one I like best is the reference to Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus, who said, 'Those who are trained and disciplined in the proper discipline can determine what will best serve the occasion.' Mamet best serves this occasion with a superior thriller about a man of discipline serving his country in spite of itself.

A political thriller that manages to be both logical and surprising. Dialogues are smart and every character is given an important role in this military puzzle film. It shows, in an unconventional way, the hidden world of intelligence service at all its levels (the highest and the lowest). This movie was unnoticed by the general public because of its being somehow simple (with no special effect) but it's for sure genuine and of high quality; it has surprise twists, tough guys and some great action scenes. Furthermore what makes this flick special is not only the story but also the original way David Mamet chose to tell it; Val Kilmer acted in a very mature and professional manner and deserves many compliments for that.

Well i was starting to wonder whether Val would get his career back on track after seeing him in mishaps like Mindhunters (Cheesey but fun) and his brief role in The Missing (Boring boring boring). I haven't seen Wonderland yet so i can't judge him on that one just now.

This is the guy that starred in films such as Willow, Heat and Tombstone (His best role to date), he should be starring in bigger films these days and making a better reputation for himself you would think. But up until now this hasn't happened. So thank god for Spartan....

The trailer looked quite average so i wasn't expecting much, but it starred Kilmer and Macy so i was hoping to be pleasantly surprised somehow. Which i was.

The reason why this film hit the right note for me was its pace. It flowed really well and i thank Mamet the director for that. The first thirty minutes to forty five are fantastic and didn't let go of the audiences attention at all. It did dip through the middle but again picked up to my delight after that patchy spell.

I've already commented on Kilmer enough and he does a great job in his role of Agent Scott. He is backed up by rookie partner Curtis played by Derek Luke. This is the first time i have seen this guy and he did a great job with the screen time that he had.

My one disappointment is William H Macy's character Stoddard. There was no development whatsoever to his character and he was restricted to very tight screen time. The best actor in this film restricted to a few lines is very harsh. I'm sure a few people will agree with me there.

By the way i loved the fact that they didn't relate to the girl as the 'presidents daughter' once throughout this film. Simple but effective

A gem of a film.

If you go by the plot, or by the casting (Val Kilmer's done his share of stupid actioners), you might well go into this expecting guns, explosions, and improbably ninja-esquire super-agents who parachute around and kill things with their teeth.

But this is Mamet, so what you get instead is a sort of weird emotional flatland for almost two hours of film, with Kilmer doing an excellent (Val KILMER? Whoa!) job of portraying what top-level soldier/drones are like: emotionally neutral, physically economical, and not always all that bright.

If you're looking for somebody hoisting a bazooka and wisecracking before he blows up the compound and saves the girl in the bikini while smashing the drug smuggling ring, this ain't your film, friend. It's very well written and extremely well acted, but also quiet, murky, and deliberately understated.

Don't expect whiz-bang excitement or crackerjack dialogue. If you can shelve that and put yourself in the frame of mind of a Kurosawa samurai movie, where contemplation and futility take equal time with action and excitement, you'll find this movie a lot more rewarding.

This one better than most of David Mamet's later films and this is just as good as House of Games and Homicide. This movie stars Val Kilmer as a government agent who is called in to help with the search of the president's missing daughter. Val is willing to do just about anything to get her back and the less you know about the plot, the better you're off. I'm surprised that i never even heard of this movie until it came in theaters. I saw no previews for it or any ads anywhere. The first place i heard about was when Val Kilmer was on The Daily Show to promote the movie. I only went to go see it was that it was written and directed by David Mamet. It would be a good thing to not read any reviews before you see it.