Review of Spartan (2004) by Zak G — 23 Jul 2004
Not a fan at all of David Mamet.............in fact, you could actually say that I genuinely dislike his work, with the begrudging exception of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, which benefits from the work of Al Pacino and Alec Baldwin. Otherwise, I despise his writing, which strains so hard to be clever, what with his words and sentences that desperately call attention to themselves.
"Everyone needs money. That's why they call it money.".
"My motherfucker's so cool that when he goes to sleep, sheep count him.".
Pathetic writing. "No, actually, I don't know why they call it money.".
"So you mean to tell me, wait........sheep count him as he's sleeping? How does that make him cool? I'm confused.".
He always seems to bury a fine cast waist-deep in his tired Mamet-isms. Take HEIST, for example. Great cast, fantastic even. Maybe if he learned how to shoot a scene with some panache, I'd be more kind to his work. Ah, but he's one of those point-and-shoot guys, thinking that his dialogue will save him. Too bad no one ever tells him the truth............And SPARTAN? Well, not much to say about its badness, although I'm really disappointed in Val Kilmer. I like Val a lot, but he keeps letting me down. I thought after WONDERLAND he would start picking good roles again, because I liked WONDERLAND, and I thought he was pretty great in it. Too bad, though.
This review of Spartan (2004) was written by Zak G on 23 Jul 2004.
Spartan has generally received positive reviews.
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