This film, directed and written by former playwright David Mamet, garnered little publicity. In part this was due to poor advertising for the film which is a shame really for the general public ended up missing out on a highly intelligent and entertaining action/thriller. I call it that for I naturally have to confine it to a genre. However it’s a much smarter movie then such a label would suggest. Mamet creates a colorful array of characters and makes the situations of the film plausible. Certainly there must be those that are above the best of the best and that is what we must believe in order to be introduced to Robert Scott. It’s not that we as the movie going public have never seen a kidnapping movie which leads to a rescue. That’s all been done many times over. It’s the circumstances surrounding it. This isn’t the local FBI working with a distraught family trying to bargain with the abductors. This is the Secret Service, CIA, FBI, and anyone else you could ever imagine. The stakes are higher and therfore so was my interest. There is no pleading father directly involved in the attempt to regain the missing person. In fact never once do we seem him in the film. Instead our protagnist is a man with no relationship to the girl. In fact he is a man trained all his life to distance emotions, never question, and only follow orders. So in this manner he doesn’t help for the sake of the girl as much as for his sense of duty. The film tends to make a point however, as it progresses of showing that even a man so specially trained as Scott can never really give up his emotions. Throughout his investigations he unwittingly finds himself becoming more and more emotionally involved in that which he is doing. This is partly due to Curtis, who innocently grows on Scott and develops a sort of mentor/student bond with him.

What the film ends up leading to is the twist that finally pushes Scott over that hurdle that he began to climb with his relationship with Curtis and uneasiness about the alleged death of Laura. His involvement in the search becomes purely personal. There is also the sense of duty he must fullfill but if he were truly the same person he was at the beginning he would not have helped Curtis. So his feelings finally do get the better of him. It’s this obvious focus on Scott and who he is as a human being and as a professional killer that tends to make me think that the genre the film is lumped into doesn’t really do it justice. Now there are of course scenes of action and gun fighting filled with violence and blood. However they aren’t there to necessarily excite or keep the viewer interested. The story does that on it’s on. Instead they are there to further it along and play out the various situations that occur in the film that require the violence to be there. If I could find one and only one fault it would be in the very ending of the film. That while logical left me desiring more.

Of course while he may not have immense star power anymore and he is often widely picked on with other actors such as Kevin Costner, it’s hard to deny that Vil Kilmer has talent. He’s always been one of my favorite actors who I think’s been underappreciated. His performance in Spartan is easily the best I’ve ever seen from him, possibly excluding his stunning work in The Doors. He excellently conveys at first Scott’s coldness and then his compassion while encompassing both in his sense of duty. It’s a complex character and at the same time simplistic. Derek Luke was new to me. I enjoyed his performance as Curtis. His role in humanizing Scott is integral. And Luke displays the young brashness that would cause Scott to admire him in the first place. Not that I want to sound like Robert Scott is a robotic soldier. For that’s not my intent. It’s more of a transformation for him from thoughtless soldier who doesn’t think, only takes orders, and distances himself from his work, to someone who is truly involved in that which he is doing and sets his own guidelines and questions that which he is told to do. And I highly enjoyed Kristen Bell’s performance as Laura. Even though we are introduced to her late in the film and her arrival is brief, she still made an impact on me. Bell greatly showcased the fear and confusion that the young girl would have and created a truly genuine character, taken from her home and unsure of her surroundings.

Being a former playwright I suppose some of his stage writing finds it’s way into Mamets movies. For at times in the film the dialogue can be quite intelligent and somewhat poetic. More so than any regular human being ever is. This was enjoyable for me for writing intelligent dialogue seems to be a lost art these days. The story excited and entertains and also manages to engage the viewer at an intellectual level. And as I’ve stated Kilmer is particularly impressive in this film displaying a range that those who’ve seen his movies always knew he had. I may be giving the film too much credit and I may not. However as a film going fan I truly enjoyed Spartan and found it to be an excellent film.