Spartan

Val Kilmer stars as a super secret service agent Robert Scott in this sometimes interesting, sometimes under whelming tale of finding the kidnapped daughter of the President of the United States. Fans of David Mamet's (House Of Games, Glengarry Glen Ross) style and pacing will be used to the complex (and at times convoluted) plotting. The idiosyncratic, cryptic dialogue and terrible delivery (at times) will push the limits of your disbelief from being suspended. Though the movie as a whole isn't a complete bust for it, certain scenes made me scream "C'mon!" at the TV.

This obviously isn't your typical muscled up, oiled down action hero movie with a simple and easily followed plot. Mamet is a master craftsman. His movies don't describe the obvious. He not only glues your eyes to the screen but he forces you to think. This time around it's mostly unrealized potential as there is never any real connection with any of the characters. Most importantly, when we finally see the president's daughter, the character that's supposed draw all your sympathy, she turns out to be a slightly annoying screamer. Yuck. However, there are good performances by Tia Texada (3rd Watch) and Ed O'Neil of Married With Children fame.

The DVD contains very little in the way of extras, just a trailer and an audio commentary by Val Kilmer. Overall, it's about a 2.5 out of 5. Fans of slick, big budgeted summer blockbusters might feel like this is a dud but those looking for a thinking man's action film (if you can believe the President's daughter can be sold into white slavery without anyone knowing,or the even more absurd notion that he would rather let her die than bring her back because she will hurt his chances at reelection) might find this intriguing.