Spartan

source: Spartan

Trailer—Spartan

Spartan

This is a competent political thriller written and directed by the talented David Mamet with a strong central performance from Val Kilmer as an American secret agent with a direct and brutal style of operation. From the opening sequence of a woman running through woods (like "Silence Of The Lambs"), this is a taut tale which never lets up the pace, with strong violence and a number of plot twists along a road with plenty of blood and betrayal, and the music by Mark Isham adds real atmosphere. But there are no great action sequences or memorable lines of dialogue to lift the film to a higher level. Nevertheless the movie deserves a higher profile that it is receiving so far.

The excellent David Mamet returns to write and direct an entertaining spy thriller which puts fantasy fare such as the Bourne Identity to bed. Val Kilmer is good here, better than anything I can remember, but the real star here is Mamet. His direction is better here than Heist or State and Main, and the script more believable. It still crackles with Mamet's trademark dialogue but in this genre it seems to fit better. Excellent support cast all round, notably 'the girl' and Said Taghmaoui, the latter being one of my favourite character actors at present. The ending does seem abrupt, but by no means out of place. Critics argued that the plot is too complicated/ clever and that the lead is truly "Shallow Val" but this is selling the actor and the audience short. This was entertaining, with overtones of conspiracy which makes great viewing for people with similar tastes to myself. 10/10

6 July 2004. In the formula of Three Days of Condor or The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, Spartan takes a darker, serious look at the spy came and the political intrique. The harsh, mysterious straight look at thrills and chills makes this movie one of the best of its genre in a long time. Short of the typical action thrills, it more than makes up for it in performance, storyline, and fictional realities of those Cold War movies. This is a bittersweet movie of double crosses, sacrifices, and the supposed power of the those in the highest echelons of power. Vil Kilmer offers a brilliant performance with an excellent cast along with the emotional stinging bite of the classic icy cold and deadly game of espionage. Nine out of Ten Stars.

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.

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.