This is the worst kind of movie: One that attempts to merely confuse the audience with pointless plot turns, surprises, and lack of detail. Mamet seems to enjoy introducing key characters, not giving any detail about them, then forgetting them altogether, only to reintroduce them some time later and kill them off. If this movie had more focus, it could've been great, but instead it's just a mediocre espionage/thriller.… Expand

[***SPOILER***] I walked into this film not knowing one thing about it...the story, cast, nothing. All I knew was that it was the new Mamet film, which is good enough for me. The script is acerbic & terse, the direction uncluttered and direct, so why didn't I like the film? The story. Simple as that, the plot did not compel me or interest me beyond just being an observer. Despite the interesting political implications (the daughter's name is Laura, and if the movie Laura can be killed in the name of re-election, imagine what could happen to the real President's daughter...)… Expand

[***PLOT REVELATIONS***] Spartan stars the always awesome Val Kilmer, and bills William H. Macy as his co-star, though he is barely in it. The film?s trailer makes it appear rather generic, which it is far from. And while it is good to see an unconventional thriller that takes some ballsy moves, the film is so uneven by the end it?s impossible to figure out anything that has just happened. Here is what I could figure out in this unintelligible muddle. Val Kilmer plays a moody Army Rangers Sergeant. Derek Luke plays a Ranger trainee who becomes his temporary partner. A powerful politician?s daughter, up for reelection, is missing and is eventually thought to be dead after being captured by a prostitution cartel. She was a great Picasso fan and left his cockeyed signs every brothel house she had to stay in. There is a scene where Val Kilmer?s character kills a bunch of people that had very little sense to it up until the very end, which causes less confusion, but doesn?t change very much. He dashes out of a convenience store while being shot at by the owner; a policeman is standing nearby. The owner of the store starts shooting at him. He shoots back and hits him. The policeman starts capping at Kilmer and he blows him away to. He picks up his shotgun and walks back into the store, where plenty of servicemen are with him. After that concluded, I thought it was just a training session. It turns out those were real characters that really died, and with all the clutter the scene had, it feels rather gratuitously violent. William H. Macy is completely wasted and barely seen. He?s always great in whatever he does, most recently in ?The Cooler.? In this film, he has even less screen time than he did in Air Force One. It?s amazing that such a talented/gifted/veteran director would cast William H. Macy and use him so little. Amongst all the confusion, there are some witty remarks in it. An escaping prisoner tells Kilmer?s character that he will be like a brother to him for helping him escape. Kilmer?s character replies that his brother used to always beat him. Also, there are a few ballsy moves done in the film, primarily containing the death of a main character. That was the only scene that really got me spooked. Thinking about that, the film is hardly a thriller, or a mystery, or a drama at all. While I won?t criticize David Mamet for making his film genre-less, I do criticize him for making it bewildering. At least it wasn?t predictable like other thrillers of late. Some questions arose while I was watching the movies: Why are people so easy to kidnap? What party and political position did the girl?s father have? Why wasn?t she raised by her own parents? Who checked the witness for weapons? What is William H. Macy doing in such a small role? What was the female officer doing in Lebanon? Who was after getting Kilmer?s character? Why were they doing this? How can people be so distracted by a taxi driver and let an American slip into a ?payload box? to grab weapons? These are a lot of the questions I had, and I?m sure I could think of plenty more. That being sad, the acting in the film is quite fine, if only it was possible to figure out what was happening. Maybe if I had paid closer attention to the details in the film I would have understood it better. By the end, I didn?t care.… Expand

Some very cool scenes, but bottom line to David Mamet: PEOPLE DO NOT TALK OR ACT LIKE THIS.

The twists and turns in the plot were alright, but the dialogue between characters completely turned me off of this movie. [Man: Do you want a cigarette? Woman: Can you produce one?] Who SAYS that?!?

This movie sucks, plain and simple. Mamet is highly overrated, and so is his dialogue. It is as laughable as this film is confusing and dull. A good cast and two hours of my life were wasted.

Good movie, which pretty much buries the lead. You don't really figure out why the story is so compelling until the very end. It still worked for me, but could have been better. Kristen Bell is quite a find, though. Tremendous performance.

I really enjoyed this movie. Val Kilmer is such a chameleon, and he does an amazing job with the role that Mamet wrote for him. The story was terrific. Mament never wastes your time or insults your intelligence by dwelling on exposition or establishing mundane details. You're thrust into the story, and you've got to figure it out. On a personal note, I have to say that Kristen Bell, the star of the hit musical "Sneaux!" was amazing as the president's daughter. We need to see much more of her on the big screen. … Expand

This is an extraordinary, taut, political espionage thriller. It kept me guessing and totally involved. Val Kilmer plays a special ops trainer called in to recover the kidnapped daughter of the President. Her captors just see her as a beautiful blonde and don't know who she is. She's one of the many blondes kidnapped and brought to the Arab gulf states to be a sex slave. Without giving away the plot, I'll just say that on the surface, this appears to be a ho-hum, cookie-cutter film. It isn't. None of the acting is oveRdone (well, just one secret service person). Kilmer plays an understated role where he doesn't smile, act cocky and look like a famous actor. This contributes to the believeability to the film. Lesser films require such star quality. Spartan also doesn't rely on gadgets, stunts, car chases or silly fighting. The action isn't non-stop, but well-placed. It caused me to jump a couple of times. This is better than The Recruit, Basic and Spygame, and while less of a spectacle than the last James Bond film, it's more engrossing. This film is on it's second day in Winnipeg, and although its only playing at Polo Park, the theatre was about half empty. It's too bad the studio doesn't believe there is a large enough market for this superb film. by Triniman 14 March 2004… Expand

I thought this was an excellent movie, much better than many of his recent films. It was interesting, thought provoking and very well acted. I think Mamet is back after a few very disappointing films. I still happen to think he is one of the best living playwrights today, along with Tom Stoppard.

Wow, wow, and wow. Val Kilmer plays a supercharged Secret Service agent in this political thriller written and directed by David Mamet. Certainly, this film isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, but Kilmer and friends deliver Mamet's trademark dialogue with such a feverish intensity that the film is worth viewing for acting credentials alone!

Just might qualify as Mamet's most thoroughly mediocre and dull effort yet.

I found the flick to be interestingly plotted, excellently acted in an understated fashion with a wonderfuly subtlety to the characters. Not perfect at the end, and dissapointingly few extras on the DVD.

This is a great film. pure and simple. What it requires of the viewer is to record and catalog every line of dialog through the first 20-30 minutes, and then connect all of those stored clues and weave them together to form the conclusion. I have watched this film over and over again pickin up new clues and answering old questions with every viewing. The musical score is excellent keeping excellent pace with the pace and setting of the plot. A couple of things to note though. One, Val Kilmer IS A MARINE! Sorry had to get that off my chest. The Army doesn't have Master Gunnery Sargents, folks. People I guess are getting thrown off of this fact during the first five minutes of the film when Val Kilmer's future sidekick tries to "bond" with Val by showing him his dad's Ranger book from WW2. If anything it's the sidekick that I have a problem with, but luckily I didn't have to suffer much through his performances. Great dialog, very smart, and not a single wasted word. Of course people do not act like this, that's what makes it a movie. All i can say is that it is a great flick and if you like spook/military movies then you'll enjoy this one for sure.… Expand