Review

Review Date: 14-March-04
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Spartan (2004)

David Mamet's "Spartan" features Val Kilmer as an elite Marine specializing in covert operations who teams with the Secret Service after the president's daughter goes missing. At first (with rookie Derek Luke in tow), Kilmer follows a trail that points to kidnapping by slave traders who sell white, usually blonde, women to Arabs overseas. After the press reports that the daughter has accidentally drowned, however, his continued investigation leads to a cover-up that reaches to the White House and puts him and the few things he cares about in jeopardy.

This rather inventive mystery/action/conspiracy plot contains the seeds of a good movie, but "Spartan," alas, cannot claim that title. The story takes too long getting started, involves too many implausible circumstances, and serves up way too much ham from Kilmer, who silently screams "Aren't I too Tarantino?" in his strained attempt to be coolly laconic. (Laconic --- get it? Okay, maybe you need to be a former classics geek.) Kilmer appears in every scene of the film and yet never develops a personality; when he clumsily expresses his defining quality at about the halfway mark, it comes as a surprise. One has to cut him some slack, though, because the big problem here is the writing. Mamet has earned a reputation for incisive, gritty dialogue (as both a playwright and a screenwriter), but 60 percent of the lines he asks his actors to say in this case are hilariously stupid, a fact either highlighted or caused by an abundance of clichéd situations and characters. (What is the deal with butch Hispanic women soldiers? Did that start with "Alien?") I was mighty tempted to howl with laughter at Kilmer's crucial turning point from obedient heavy to rogue hero; others in the theater guffawed at some of the cheesy one-liners, so I knew we were on the same page.

However, while I rolled my eyes and curled my lip a number of times during "Spartan," I became engrossed during whole chunks of the film as well. I enjoyed in particular the details involved with the Secret Service's rapid deployment and blunt resourcefulness (I admit it: efficiency turns me on). Though none of it may be accurate, it's interesting to contemplate the existence of a veiled, highly trained American army that takes care of the things the rest of us aren't meant to know about. (The white slave trade idea may merit a closer look, too.) And although some of the lesser characters are silly (like the butch GI) or gratuitous (like William H. Macy's shady G-man), a few cast members manage to generate a spark of human interest, including the unexpectedly marginal Luke and Ed O'Neill, who plays the president's chief watchdog.

Coming on the heels of more accomplished Mamet fare like "The Winslow Boy" and "State and Main," "Spartan" is a bit of a disappointment. Yet for people who enjoy government conspiracies or taciturn loners with guns (or efficiency), it may prove a decent rental.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.