By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: David Mamet
Starring: Derek Luke | Ed O'Neill | Tia Texada | Val Kilmer | Vincent D'Onofrio | William H. Macy
Country: germany, united_states
Year: 2004
Running time: 106
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360009/combined
Peg says: “The characters in David Mamet’s new thriller might be mistaken for those in a Michael Crichton novel if not for their
tendency to spout profane haiku instead of dialogue. Val Kilmer’s Robert Scott is an ex-Marine and Secret Service demi-god investigating the abduction of the president’s daughter from Harvard Yard; when she turns up dead after a scandalous boating accident off Martha’s Vineyard, Scott is disgraced. But his trusty rookie sidekick, Curtis (Derek Luke), convinces him that the girl is alive, that she’s been dragged into a white-slavery ring (you heard right) in Dubai. Forced to work alone (since his cronies are involved in the cover-up, it being an election year and all), Scott comes up with some nifty mercenary moves, and Kilmer overcomes his initial discomfort in the role (which was perhaps better suited to a more intellectual actor like, oh, Vincent D’Onofrio). Good performances come also from Ed O’Neill (Dragnet), William H. Macy (under-utilized, as he often is), and Tia Texada (Third Watch). Apart from some head-scratching moments of implausibility and some fuzzy ethics (signaling Mamet’s inevitable, if willing, surrender to Hollywood-mandated genre styling), SPARTAN is a tense thriller tinged with timely political cynicism.”
This review was originally published in the Boston Phoenix.