Review of Spartan (2004) by Jeff Y — 11 Mar 2011
If Wag The Dog were reworked from a biting satire into a dram it may look a little something like Spartan. Not that I'm trying to make Spartan sound like a fantastic movie--it's not, though it was written and directed by the great David Mamet and it stars the always reliable Val Kilmer as Robert Scott, a special-ops agent trying to find out why Laura Newton (Kristen Bell), the president's daughter, has gone missing at Harvard. It's also an election year.
Stoddard (William H. Macy) and his task force conclude that Laura was likely killed in a boat accident, but Robert and his protege Curtis (Derek Luke) suspect something more foul. As one Mamet line puts it: 'You don't have to fake DNA--you issue a press release.'.
Mamet can stage compelling action scenes, but his script is littered with predicatble incidents, until Robert manages to trace Laura to a white slave operation in Dubai. Spartan presents a nice moral conundrum, but Mamet doesn't bother to go very far into it. Spartan holds back when you most want it to cut loose.
This review of Spartan (2004) was written by Jeff Y on 11 Mar 2011.
Spartan has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
