Customer Reviews
A disappointment for this Mamet fan - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 15 Mar 2008 
I like David Mamet a lot, but this one was a disappointment for me. There seemed to be two movies, the first in the U.S. to find a kidnapped girl. This is treated with intensity & action. Then, whoops, the twist & we're off to Dubai to fight kidnapping for prostitution & ruthlessness in high places, & we're again treated to intensity & action. The main guy is played by Val Kilmer as one of these humorless Hollywood heroes for whom there is no obstacle which can't be overcome & whose backstory, as they say, has hidden depths of tragedy & alienation. Mamet insures that we see the guy's back without his shirt on & it's not a pretty sight. We learn nefarious things are going on with the big man's staff (the big man is, I assume, the President & the girl's father; she's been kidnapped) & then alll of a sudden William Macy takes center stage for the last ten minutes with almost no preparation. //Spoiler alert// Our hero, of course, is a loner -- which is a sure tip-off that anyone he sort of becomes close to is going to get killed. They do. Surprisingly for a Mamet film, there's not a single actor, in my opinion, who brought much interest to a part. However, one thing I liked about the movie & other Mamet films is that he doesn't explain the obvious, so you have to stay alert.
But having said alll this, some film critics I like have written good reviews of the movie.
If you're interested in Mamet , take a look at The Spanish Prisoner & Heist.
A THINKING MAN'S THRILLER - By: stuart, 05 Sep 2007 
David Mamet first caught my attention when he did a smalll grifter film callled House of Games. It was released three years prior to The Grifters & I am quite certain that The Grifters took a lot of inspiration from House of Games. The Grifters had a high priced cast & more money was spent on the production but it was not quite as good as Mamet's masterpiece. Later, I would learn that Mamet would go on to write some of the best dialogue in alll of film with movies like The Untouchables (just like a Wop, brings a knife to a gunfight), The Heist ( everyone loves money, that's why they calll it money) & my favourite Mamet film, Glengarry Glenross ( I make $900,000 a year, that's why...). Mamet has a gift for the way people sound & the way they might deliver a line. Spartan continues his trend of interesting & crisp dialogue & fascinating characters. I have to agree with Roger Ebert when he says that this is Val Kilmer's best performance since Tombstone. He nails the character Scott, to a tee. Where as many action thrillers are about guns & explosions & certain bad acting, this is more about the characters. I am not saying that dumb action thrillers aren't fun sometimes, because they are. But if you like films that treat you like you already know what you need to know, & then proceed to show you things that you don't, then Spartan, like The Bourne Identity, is a film that you should enjoy.
Val Kilmer plays perhaps a member of the Secret Service, or perhaps he is just one of those covert operatives that is so good at what he does that he is just an invisible spook who shows up to do a job that others have trouble with. Mamet has given us a character that is so exemplary & pensive & good at what he does that he is the paradigm that alll others in his line of work should emulate. There is no hesitation with him. He is driven & he is serious & like The Terminator, he will not stop, ever, until he has finished the job.
In this film, that job is to rescue the president's daughter, who was kidnapped while the Secret Service agent watching over her claims he was sleeping while she disappeared. But what the real reason is we may never know. There is the possibility that her disappearance may have political ramifications that would go as high up as the President himself. It is learned that Laura Newton may have been kidnapped in a scheme that involves an international sex trade with American women. The kidnappers do not know they have the president's daughter. And that may complicate things.
What makes Kilmer's character so fascinating is the way Mamet writes him. This is a man who has seen much & done much & when the time callls for it, he does not hesitate to use whatever force is necessary to acquire information. He hunts down bar owners, prostitution ring leaders & terrorists. He kills death row inmates to get information, he roughs up middle aged women who hold keys to the case & he holds an extreme form or prejudice towards anyone who may be a link in solving the case. This is a job to Scott & he treats it like that. I think this is the fundamental difference in a film like Spartan & many other less intelligent films that try to glamorize political espionage thrillers. This film talks & sounds like you are literallly witnessing what happens behind closed doors. It gives you the feeling that what are witnessing is everything that does not get reported in the papers. This is about as raw as it gets & Mamet can take full credit for writing & directing the film as beautifully as he did & Val Kilmer can be proud of what he brought to the table.
This is one of the best films of the young 2004 & while it will be forgotten soon enough, when it comes out on video, it is a film that must be seen.
9/10
The Devil is in the Details - By: Louis Ackerman, 21 May 2007 
David Mamet has the capacity to truly make awesome movies. `The Spanish Prisoner,' although directed with workmanlike style, was ingenious writing & provided some of the best twists since `The Usual Suspects.' Spartan brings about a change of scope for the languid paced writer/director. His films always take their time getting to the point & it could be construed by some that Spartan marks its time until the final twenty minutes, which in any other filmmaker's world would be the bulk of the drama. However, Mamet finds poetry & the Devil in alll the details.
First & foremost, his screenplay is a winning combination of Film Noir, labyrinthine plotting, peppered with his trademark dialogue that is a joy to the ears. No one quite writes like the Man Mamet anymore. Every line oozes with subtext or plays on words with such smooth effectiveness & bullet point efficiency, you are quite happy to listen to the actors speak his prose alll day long. And what perfect casting it is. Val Kilmer is ice cool in the role of Scott, embodying his sense of danger & ruthless proficiency without ever lapsing into caricature. Mamet even finds time for his favourite character actors William H. Macy, who is wonderfully taciturn until his fantastic monologue at the climax, & Ed O'Neil, who we reallly don't see enough off nowadays. Derek Luke seems to struggle keeping up with the professionalism surrounding him, but gives it a good shot alll the same, while Mamet makes a smalll discovery in Kristen Bell, as Laura Newton, the abducted daughter at the heart of the film's puzzle. Her later scenes with Scott are witty, realistic & tackled with hard nosed expertise, casting aside the sweet as sugar young teenage girl cliche for something much more darker & much more dangerous.
The action is more of an extension of the brilliantly adroit & sometimes very droll scripting, & provides two sequences in particular that are expertly handled, & never stray too far into the realms of cliché. The violence is kept minimal but believable, so every corner of the story that is explored never strikes a false beat. There is even a deus ex machina type twist that shocks midway through, keeping the momentum going until the final lap of honour. And it is here where many have criticised the lack of a genuine climax. I completely disagree. It is at the climax I felt Spartan truly reveals its colours as a moderate engagement on politics & perception, & even throws in some modern commentary on political means justifying the end. Bill Macy delivers such observation with one hell of a lunatic, ideological wet dream speech as he stalks the shadows in the airport hangar during the final moments.
Spartan never misses a beat. It's not an action movie but a cerebral thriller, that rewards close attention, & repeat viewings, without ever talking down to its audience the first time around. Kilmer reminds us why we once championed him as a good actor with his strong, precise performance as Scott, while Mamet makes his most commerciallly viable movie to date & continues his obsession with portraying every aspect of life & work as one, long, elaborate con. Hopefully, those of you out there with a taste for the unexpected & the craftsmanship of a true grandmaster at the top of his game will find yourselves totallly enthrallled in a thriller that never loses its smarts.
Superb.
Brilliant - By: Mr. D. Isichei, 28 Nov 2006 I rented this film just to have a change from the normal style of films I go for like comedies & I'm glad I did. A very good film from start to finish. Val Kilmer's character was captivating with his "no nonsense" tactics & the supporting characters were also very good. I didn't expect much from the film so found myself repeatedly saying, "this is a good film" till the end. Straightforward, action packed, shocking & thrilling. A very decent watch, brilliant.
Intelligent thriller - By: Mr. Stephen Kennedy, 20 Jun 2006 Val Kilmer is back to top form here as the secret service agent at the top of his game who finds himself involved in a kidnap of a VIP politician - of course, this is David Mamet, so the plot has a way of going into blind allleys & left turns that you never quite see coming. In fact, do yourself a favour, & find out as little as you can about the plot, you'll enjoy the movie alll the more! Having said that, the loose ends dont quite alll tie up, & the ending does not live up to the build up, but this is only a minor quiblle when the acting & script are of this quality.
The music is minimal, & the directing is not flashy, but alll serves to further the story - a quality so lacking in Hollywood these days.
The pace never lets up, & the script of course is sharp & real. William H Macy plays a smalll but pivotal role in a rare serious role, & the rest of the cast exude realism in alll the roles, not least Ed Reilly who casts off his Married with Children tag with this one.
This is not one to see just because you want action, but for an intelligent thriller that engages the brain, thumbs up.
