Spartan (film)

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Spartan
Directed by	David Mamet
Produced by	David Bergstein Moshe Diamant Art Linson Elie Samaha
Written by	David Mamet
Starring	Val Kilmer Derek Luke William H. Macy
Music by	Mark Isham
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 8, 2004
Running time	106 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Spartan is an American political thriller film written and directed by David Mamet and starring Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, Tia Texada, and Kristen Bell. It was released in America and Canada in March 2004.

[edit] Plot

Robert Scott (Val Kilmer) is a cold efficient operative, and former Master Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps , training special forces recruits for a covert special operations unit of the United States Military including trainees Curtis (Derek Luke) and knife-fighting instructor Jackie Black (Tia Texada). When Laura Newton (Kristen Bell), a Harvard student and first daughter of the President is abducted, the Secret Service, intent on keeping the abduction a secret because of the dire political consequences, enlist Scott as their field operative to recover her before the press would inevitably learn of her disappearance next Monday when she's due back in school (only in two days).

The frantic investigation finds a lead to blondes-smuggling ring to the Middle East but fails to conclude by the deadline. After the fact of her abduction becomes publicly known, just as the party is preparing for a flight to the region on rescue mission, reports emerge that Laura Newton's body with that of her college professor was discovered aboard a sailboat off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The task force disbands and Scott returns home, only to be approached by Curtis who proves that Newton is still alive. Scott conducts his own investigation and learns that the President arrived in Boston to conduct an extramarital affair and took Laura's Secret Service detail for extra protection, leaving her vulnerable to kidnapping by local pimps, who sold her to a sexual slavery ring run out of Dubai. The Secret Service engineered the press briefing and the announcement of Laura Newton's death to shield him from the political fallout that would result should the press discover his involvement in her kidnapping. Upon learning this, Jackie convinces Scott to go after her.

Without company support and presumed dead by the Secret Service following an assassination attempt, Scott and Jackie fly to Dubai and mount an independent rescue operation. The operation is successful, but as Scott prepares to take her home, he discovers his equipment bugged by the Secret Service, who pursue him into an airplane hangar. Scott shoots his way past the team and loads Laura onto a Swedish journalist's private plane, but Jackie is killed in the gunfight. Days later in London, a stoic and disguised Scott watches on television as Laura disembarks from a plane into the waiting arms of her father.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

Spartan received mixed but generally good reviews and has a score of 65% on Rotten Tomatoes and 60% on Metacritic. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a four-star rating saying that "The particular pleasure of 'Spartan' is to watch the characters gradually define themselves and the plot gradually emerge like your face in a steamy mirror."^[1] Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph felt the film was let down by a "botched" finale, "as though Mamet felt obliged to reproduce a standard-issue Tom Clancy climax while knowing that this wasn't the way to go."^[2]

[edit] Trivia

• The title and events in the film allude to Leonidas I, king of Sparta who, when a neighbor state requested military aid, would send one man. As Scott puts it, "One riot, one ranger." Mamet had previously included this line in House of Games. The remark is also part of the lore of the Texas Rangers.

• The film's Dubai settings were actually filmed in Los Angeles, California.

• Eric L. Haney, a career Army non-commissioned officer and member of Delta Force, was a technical advisor and had a small cameo in the film. After Spartan, Haney and Mamet went on to collaborate on The Unit, a television series about a fictional highly secret special operations unit of the United States Army modelled on Delta Force.

• Alexandra Kerry, the daughter of U.S. Senator John Kerry, plays a small role as a bartender in the film.

• David Mamet's Rabbi, Mordechai Finley, also has a cameo appearance as one of Val Kilmer's fellow Cadre operators

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Spartan at the Internet Movie Database