'Spartan' is an intelligent spy thriller from writer director David Mamet. In a way it seems to know so much that I had a constant feeling the film could have been something more. There are terrific parts and I was thinking that a Secret Service of a country could really work the way it did here.
Val Kilmer is Scott, an agent from the Secret Service. I am not really sure whether this is true but after a while we can assume this. The opening scenes are ingenious with the characters talking about things we have no clue about. Slowly it comes to our knowledge that a girl had been kidnapped, the daughter of the president. We learn everything at the same time or even much later than the character which makes this an interesting thriller anyway. We learn that the kidnappers probably do not even know their victim is the daughter of the president.
When Scott and a partner named Curtis (Derek Luke) come closer to the girl, suddenly the news tells them and us that the daughter has been killed in an accident. Investigation over, but we are only at one third of the movie. Curits discovers the girl is probably not dead after all and hopes for Scott to help him. From this point the movie gets more intriguing and plays to an ending that is disappointing if you consider all you have seen before that.
Never mind the ending, although it is too bad it's the last thing you see of 'Spartan', my guess is you will remind the good part. I liked Kilmer's performance and Mamet's little dialogue for him. Other dialogue from Mamet is less impressive here, but Kilmer's character seems to find the right words. I also liked the way the movie was unpredictable in its ruthless scenes and, like I said, the way the movie gives us an idea of how things could work in an organization like the Secret Service. Mamet makes sure we believe we just fall in the middle of a couple of lives, instead of watching some characters invented to serve a plot. Scott even talks this way.
The opening sequences are the best, after that things are very intriguing and therefore I am able to forgive the movie its ending. It is not really bad or even implausible, it just seems a lot weaker than everything else here.
Val Kilmer is Scott, an agent from the Secret Service. I am not really sure whether this is true but after a while we can assume this. The opening scenes are ingenious with the characters talking about things we have no clue about. Slowly it comes to our knowledge that a girl had been kidnapped, the daughter of the president. We learn everything at the same time or even much later than the character which makes this an interesting thriller anyway. We learn that the kidnappers probably do not even know their victim is the daughter of the president.
When Scott and a partner named Curtis (Derek Luke) come closer to the girl, suddenly the news tells them and us that the daughter has been killed in an accident. Investigation over, but we are only at one third of the movie. Curits discovers the girl is probably not dead after all and hopes for Scott to help him. From this point the movie gets more intriguing and plays to an ending that is disappointing if you consider all you have seen before that.
Never mind the ending, although it is too bad it's the last thing you see of 'Spartan', my guess is you will remind the good part. I liked Kilmer's performance and Mamet's little dialogue for him. Other dialogue from Mamet is less impressive here, but Kilmer's character seems to find the right words. I also liked the way the movie was unpredictable in its ruthless scenes and, like I said, the way the movie gives us an idea of how things could work in an organization like the Secret Service. Mamet makes sure we believe we just fall in the middle of a couple of lives, instead of watching some characters invented to serve a plot. Scott even talks this way.
The opening sequences are the best, after that things are very intriguing and therefore I am able to forgive the movie its ending. It is not really bad or even implausible, it just seems a lot weaker than everything else here.