CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

eric262003 David Mamet exhibits his versatility and dedication to his craft as both writer and director through one of the more exciting thrillers in a long time coming, "Spartan". Mamet does everything he could to keep out the characters from being clichéd and never lets the action and the excitement become predictable. He does that maintaining the plot to keep it moving and to challenge your minds. This movie demands that you need to think at all times. The majority of "Spartan" is very plot-driven and nothing more, which is not entirely all that bad as long as you are quick-witted then you might enjoy the movie a whole lot better. Because the complexity of the story lingers on very sudden.I'm going to refrain from giving too much details about the movie because the twits delivered here are to be seen to be believed. For the record the story stars Val Kilmer plays a hard-liner secret service agent who's on the prowl in search of the President's daughter who's been kidnapped. To really get a good feeling about the movie, it's best when it's served cold and even though the twists delivered here happen quite frequently to make you go bonkers, it all seems to work out well with the story giving it a steady flow in its entirety.There's not an ounce of anything boring about "Spartan." In fact I will go out as to say that there's not an abundance of action to call it an "action" movie, however, there's always something happening in each scenes and everything falls into place at the right times.Mamet plays it right by avoiding annoying things like pointless character arcs or overwhelming sub-plots. The plot along with the thrills and suspense is all that Mamet really cares about. The characters depicted here seem to know who they are and know their positions of where they're supposed to be as each event unfolds. But Mamet cranks up the ante by throwing small tidbits of information just to keep issues all the more compelling.Overall, "Spartan" is an engaging and involving thriller that should have more credit than it really deserves. It's very high on intellect, not one generic scene is featured, one that will challenge the brain and a thriller that truly defines its genre. The only thing I have to advise you is to not get turned off the trailer because it unravels too much of the plot twists. That's what I meant when I said this movie is best served cold.

kgprophet Director David Mamet gives us an action thriller with real storytelling instead of over-the-top CGI effects that are thrown in for gee-whiz sakes. What happens is that you concentrate on the characters and the story as it is unfolding before your eyes. This is one of the best films in recent years to really give me a 'jolt' with some of the plot twists. I'm surprised Hollywood didn't fight over this script, it is mostly original, and is lean and smart. It doesn't want to throw in some stupid love interest or a "last chance to be a hero before retiring" sub plot. Not once does your brain enter that "been there - done that" zone. The well edited dialogue draws you in like a Tom Clancy novel, giving you snapshots of characters at first, then filling in the blanks as the plot unfolds. This allows the 2nd half of the story to be plausible enough to follow it through to the exciting finish. Swear to god, it got my heart pounding once the urgency of the damsel in distress hits the main character. Val Kilmer, a government agent who plays between the lines, is no John Clark. He loses points for not having any emotion to the degree that the audience can't relate to him at all. It ultimately makes him just another soldier more dispensable than his mission. The fun with David Mamet films are the gritty side characters he paints across the landscape of this adventure. A good example is an elderly secret service lady who reveals her own motherly connections to the President's daughter. She appears in one scene only, but the depth of her character becomes one of the anchors of the story. Terrific acting throughout. More fun comes from the unpredictable twists that keep the roller coaster ride going. Movie audiences that are used to Bruce Willis posing his way from one explosion to the next, will have a chance to find themselves impressed by how much the script respects your intelligence. If this was a just world, good word of mouth would give this film some legs. Hopefully it will have some life on DVD.

abieliza What can I say? Once again, Val Kilmer's role in this movie does not disappoint. Seeing him as a Secret Service Agent, going 'above and beyond' the 'call of duty' to save the life of a young girl was incredible! This movie had me on edge the whole time. I had no idea how the story would unfold, or how it would end. I must say, I was very pleased with the results. I cannot begin to imagine what Val must have been thinking as he took this character, and breathed "life" to its very soul. It was a touching story, and I was so proud to see him as a hero. Because really...that's what he is...a hero. Val...you are amazing. <3 Your amazing performance never disappoints your fans. Thank you!

tedg David Mamet is running out of gas and seems a bit desperate here.Successful long form cinema requires more than the exploitation of one skill, especially when it is word-oriented.His approach to narrative starts with the words. He does not define characters per se, but urges and only if those urges emerge for word clusters. So he is all about rhythm, association, patter. His last few projects approached the power of words by themselves from different directions. Here he relies on the notion that military types — at least in movies — have a clipped cadence that is unique and exploitable. I admit that I find it engaging just because of the novelty of the thing. But then, looking at how Lincoln is distended on squashed pennies is interesting in the same way. In the past — in his early plays — you could enjoy how these things took on lives of their own, sometimes adopting and driving characters, sometimes situations and they engaged. But that was because they were raw, intuitively found in the conceptswamps at the edge of safe imagination.But as he has become more successful, he lost his ability to risk and his approach became commoditized. The patter here is established early in the movie, in scenes that have nothing to do with the story. He justifies it by introducing characters that matter later, but that is all superfluous. This is a mess, a waste. There is one scene that grabbed me though and I wish most films had a device this powerful. An agent was seeking the return of a kidnapped woman, the daughter of the President. He is pulled off the case, but has found something troubling. By an unlikely coincidence he encounters another agent who at first thinks him to be an invader. What happens next is an amazing shift, a pleasing one that drives the narrative for another few, dead episodes.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.