Spartan

I am a huge David Mamet fan. I guess the reason I missed this when it was in theaters is that I didn't know I was a fan in 2004. But like The Spanish Prisoner and Heist (which is one of the all-time great caper films with Gene Hackman) Spartan provides an intriguing storyline that keeps you engaged by changing directions every so often, without giving you cinematic whiplash. Val Kilmer plays a ranger who is part of the task force assigned to recover the missing first daughter. Her abduction from school is on the start of a weekend, so the team has 48 hours before the news outlets find out that she is missing class on monday. Kilmer follows the trail, noticing the small things that lead him to each next step. I can see how this would be the beginning of a series (a la Bourne) and am surprised that we have not seen any sequels. I guess box office has something to do with that. Perhaps one of the things I like about Kilmer's character (vs. Bourne) is that he is not a superstar. There are no action sequences where he jumps across buildings or falls out of two story windows onto a scooter and drives away. Instead, he is pretty human, just doing his job and trying to interpret his life rules to make sense. I like when people have a very distinct set of life rules that occasionally come into conflict with jobs or events and ethical decisions must be made. The military is an easy target for this since the job rules are so explicit and this is a part of the conclusion that both wraps things up and leaves the watcher thinking.
4 stars (out of 5)