This kind of caught me off-guard last night. I bought this on DVD about 4 years ago and I only just got around to watching it, some movies do that too me, when deciding what to watch I think about them too much and try figure out what I’m in the mood for. In the past with Spartan the blurb on the back of the case always seemed to push me back a notch in my contemplation for whatever reason. I think the fact it was written and directed by David Mamet sold it to me in the shop as opposed to an explosive description of what will probably turn out to be a mediocre execution of said description. So, as for being caught off-guard, Spartan is slightly more than a straight ahead thriller, with enough shifts in the story and new developments/goings on adding to a pretty dense plot throughout the whole movie. This is a slick as hell, fast paced and punchy film.
I felt like I was the new guy here for the first 30 minutes or so, well I was the new guy, but actually feeling like the new guy is something to think about. You’re the new guy (or girl) in any film you haven’t seen before. Well the movie was just a step ahead of me for a start, you have character introductions and exposition all piled on fairly quickly and then there was me just lagging a whisker to the rear of things trying to catch up as they raced through the dialogue with me going “What”? “Who?”. The dialogue was fast and intense and well delivered by all, I didn’t really have time to stop and think about criticising performances. This movie races forward and doesn’t really linger on any specific point, the information it gives the viewer as to what is going on is minimal, and at times I thought I missed some significant points and considered rewinding it, this is all part of being caught off guard! I do consider myself pretty attentive most of the time, but a slight lull in brain activity this very evening kind of caught up with me.
The actual story idea is quite straight forward for the most part. Val Kilmer is a badass elite soldier hired by the special service to retrieve the kidnapped daughter of a government official. In the process he unveils a slavery ring, where blonde haired American women are kidnapped and shipped to Dubai, and used as escorts/whores are whatever. The catch is, this investigation is all under the radar and he only has a couple of days until the story breaks in the media. The next big reveal is a government conspiracy where the “government official” guy fakes the death of his daughter and her university teacher stating they were found drowned after disappearing on a boat somewhere to have an affair. In actuality he used his daughters’ bodyguards as his own to cover up the real goings on in his seedy government life, leaving her vulnerable (although the kidnappers had no idea who she actually was). Obviously if the truth broke in the media his campaign would be seriously harmed, so you have the government types trying to cover up the truth, and the Val Kilmery types refusing to believe she is dead, he discovers new evidence that the girl is still alive, and takes an action packed trip over to Dubai to find her.
At the beginning of the movie I was trying to figure out exactly who had been kidnapped, I knew it was a girl and she was important, but I either missed it or it wasn’t actually told to me clearly that she was the daughter of a guy in government who is running for president. The ambiguities although not any kind of downfall, were ever present. The sniper on the boat, the guns in the cargo, there was a lot of potential questions and details you could start asking about to trying and figure out exactly how everything is pieced together, but this is a movie and to actually detail how Val Kilmer did everything he did, would take a lot more time. When you consider the film still plays out just fine without backing up every finer detail, you tend to forgive it.
Not being a very political person, I didn’t really identify any political stance the movie took, but portraying the US government as such a powerful and corrupt body that considers the lives of civilians (even criminals) expendable when faced with the necessity to save its own reputation or whatever, it was questionable whether this movie isn’t anything more than thrilling entertainment.
The action was pretty hardcore when it was playing out. Far from being action driven, the way the gun fights were designed is similar to how the dialog was delivered in this flick. No messing, straight to the point, slick and heavy handed. I’ve used the word “Slick” twice now. But the movie was pretty slick! The intensity of Kilmers performance is a sure highlight and the knowledge that even though he is doing the governments dirty work, but becomes the lone ranger in terms of standing up against government cover-ups and saving the lives of innocent Americans keeps him on our side. Kilmer kicks ass here and takes no prisoners, he’s very likeable and it seems he may be in the dark along with the viewer before the real facts start to unfold.
The title has something to do with King Leonidis of Sparta sending out a single man to do a job or something along those lines, but I didn’t catch the whole thing, this is revealed through dialog near the end of the film but yes, the title does have some significance.
William H Macy was the representative for the corruption being carried out by the government, he doesn’t really get much screen time and chance to flex his acting chops, but he certainly pisses off Kilmer by the end of it all.
If you enjoy a good punchy thriller, i’ve also used the word “punchy” twice now! You will probably like this movie. I think it could be just a little too much for someone wanting an easy watch and a good bit of action that takes place in the all too familiar shadow of a good old fashioned government conspiracy.
