Spartan (film)

Infobox_Film
name =Spartan


imdb_id =0360009
writer =David Mamet
starring =Val Kilmer
Derek Luke
William H. Macy
director =David Mamet
producer =David Bergstein
Moshe Diamant
Art Linson
Elie Samaha
distributor =Warner Bros.
released =March 8, 2004
runtime =106 min.
music =Mark Isham
awards =
language =English
budget =

"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.

Plot

Robert Scott (Val Kilmer) is a coldly-efficient operative, and former Marine Recon Master Gunnery Sergeant, 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 (in only 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, only to be assassinated by an unseen sniper. 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.

Cast

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." [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040312/REVIEWS/403120305/1023 Spartan Film Review] by Roger Ebert, "Chicago Sun-Times" (online), 12 March, 2004] 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." [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/08/06/bfspart06.xml House of cards tumbles down] by Tim Robey, "The Daily Telegraph" (online), 6 August, 2004]

Trivia

* "Spartan"'s title and story allude to King Leonidas I, of Sparta, who sent one soldier when a neighbouring state requested military aid. As Scott says, "One riot, one Ranger". Previously, Mamet used that dialogue in "House of Games". The remark is said to be Texas Rangers lore.

* The Dubai locales were filmed in Los Angeles, California.

* Eric L. Haney, a career U.S. Army sergeant in Delta Force, was the technical advisor, and briefly appears. After "Spartan", he and Mamet created "The Unit" television series about Delta Force.

* Alexandra Kerry, daughter of the U.S. senator, is the bartender in the film.

* David Mamet's Rabbi, Mordechai Finley, appears as one of the cadre

* The automatic knife used in the film is a Severtech "Spartan". cite web | last=Riley| first=Aaron| title=Severtech Knives Proudly Announces "The Spartan" | date=2004 | url=http://www.severtech.com/spartan.htm|accessdate = 2008-08-01 ]

References

External links

* [http://spartanthemovie.warnerbros.com/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0360009|title=Spartan