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SPARTAN Send This Review to a Friend
Writer-director David Mamet's thriller "Spartan," an exercise in gung-ho action and political cynicism, is so consistently improbable that it strains credibility to the breaking point. For a story like this to work, one has to at least be willing to accept the outrageousness and go along for the ride. Unfortunately, that's tough to do, despite the intensity Mamet works up and a tough-as-nails central performance by Val Kilmer.
Kilmer plays Robert Scott, a secret government operative skilled in lethal missions. We get the point at the outset in a training camp. His services are called for when Laura (Kristen Bell), the president's daughter, is kidnapped from Harvard and passed along to a sex slave ring that will ship her to the Middle East as a prostitute. There are complications, as the president's sexual escapades resulted in security being withdrawn from her. Scott's job is to get her back before all becomes public and there is national embarrassment. But in the labyrinth of Mamet's plotting Laura's life is in danger from more than one source.
Other operatives include Curtis, played by Derek Luke, and the eager Jackie, portrayed by Tia Texada, who become key players. William H. Macy also turns up in a shadowy undercover role as Stoddard. The action shifts from the United States to the Mid-East, and the action, as well as the murkiness, escalates. There are assorted threads for an audience to follow leading up to the ultimate burst of cynicism about government, politicos and cover-up, especially timely in an election year.
The trouble is that while one may welcome Mamet's outlook, it isn't well earned, as the story is such an absurd mess that one can't take it seriously enough to be shocked or care. Mamet has made much better films than this attempt to meld action and political comment, and even in the limited realm of screen action, "Spartan" isn't very exciting. A Warner Brothers release.
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