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Topic: Spartan (2004 movie)

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	Spartan (2004) Movie Review - The Hollywood News
		Spartan is the latest film from writer/director David Mamet, a legendary playwright who I believe to be one of the finest screenwriters of the last twenty years (I would rank him among the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Steven Zallian).
		As is the case with most of Mamet's projects, Spartan is extremely talkie and chalk full of colorful wordplay, (although it should be noted that the use of the "F" word is not nearly as prominent as it's been in some of his past pictures).
		Spartan is clearly his most restrained work, and while that trademark dialogue is present, there isn't quite as much of it.
	www.thehollywoodnews.com /reviews/archive/2004/spartan.php (668 words)

	Spartan: Review -- Strategy Informer (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		The Spartans, led by their mighty king Leonidas, stood against the invaders from the east and died to a man, to protect the Greeks and preserve a way of life that is a legacy passed on even to this day.
		Spartan, unlike the current trend in games, is a turn based strategy game, simulating the rise of the Greeks from their early beginning up to the era of Alexander the Great.
		The working population in Spartan is expressed by fl and white stick figures on the city screen, Black is the total population, white is the unassigned workers.
	www.strategyinformer.com /reviews/spartan.shtml (2192 words)

	Spartan (2004): Reviews
		This is one of those movies in which a strong ending might have made all the difference...But the wrap-up is unsatisfying, with too many questions unanswered.
		Spartan is a character study embedded in an action-hero scenario.
		Spartan is the same old stuff, but now it's been thoroughly Mametized, like a spray-on treatment you could spritz out of a can.
	www.metacritic.com /video/titles/spartan (1436 words)

	Spartan (2004) Movie Review - RopeofSilicon.com
		Spartan is a Warner Bros. release directed by David Mamet and was released in theaters on March 12, 2004.
		Spartan is the story of Robert Scott (Kilmer) a hardened military man that is enlisted to help find the missing Laura Newton (Bell), the daughter of a high ranking US official, presumably the President.
		Spartan is not great, but if you want to see a thrilling movie that keeps you guessing, then this is a good choice.
	www.ropeofsilicon.com /review.php?id=587 (513 words)

	MovieFreak.com - "Spartan" DVD Review
		Spartan is more intense, thrilling, and smooth than Mamet's Heist, a thriller with Gene Hackman.
		Why, because Spartan moves at a faster pace, tells an exciting story, and centers on one man's duty to complete his mission at all costs.
		He discusses his character and preparation for the role, the film's story, David Mamet, the shooting process, and recalls stories (such as The Spartan Times, a weekly newsletter distributed on the set) relating to the production and his experiences.
	www.moviefreak.com /dvd/s/spartan.htm (1064 words)

	A Fistful of Reviews - Spartan (2004)
		“Spartan” is easily the most riveting, most tightly wound and more refreshing thriller I’ve seen since at least 2002’s “Insomnia”, and it’s probably even better than that.
		This is a no-nonsense movie and every artisan involved has done his or her part to ensure this.
		And I love that this movie didn’t cop out or even go where any other movie with this plot might have led me. This is one hell of a film, perhaps the best one that Mamet has been involved in since his screenplay for “The Untouchables”, but that isn’t giving it enough credit.
	www.afistfulofreviews.com /qrst/spartan_dn.htm (1227 words)

	[No title]
		The first half of the movie does a great job of grabbing your attention as the story is set up for us with a good amount of tension, and Kilmer is basically going around whoopin' some posterior cheek.
		One movie stars Val Kilmer and does a good job mixing action with some unexpected plot twists, while the other stars a boyish-looking Ashley Judd and is about as original as a Julia Stiles romantic comedy.
		This movie contains a fair amount of cursing and some sexual themes - the kidnapped daughter is sold to a white slavery ring at one point in the movie.
	www.themoviemark.com /moviereviews/spartan.asp (926 words)

	Sparta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Spartan political independence was put to an end when it was eventually overpowered by its ancient rival Argos and forced into the Achaean League.
		If a Spartan hoplite were to return to Sparta alive and without his shield, it was assumed that he threw his shield at the enemy in an effort to flee; an act punishable by death or banishment.
		Spartans were absolutely debarred by law from trade or manufacture, which consequently rested in the hands of the perioeci, and were forbidden (in theory) to possess either gold or silver.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Sparta (4750 words)

	Spartan
		But as we start thinking this movie is going to be about the military or some covert operations, we are thrust into the world of surveillance and the secret service.
		“Spartan” is a movie about the mysterious Scott, exudes a constant sense of tension and urgency, and features an investigation that spirals more and more out of control with each new discovery.
		It is no surprise then that this movie, which clings claustrophobically to one character and exists solely within his story, had me leaning forward near the end, scoffing out loud at the surprises that caught me unaware, never wanting this little jigsaw puzzle to reach its edges.
	movies.zertinet.com /2004/spartan.htm (1312 words)

	"Spartan" - Salon (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		How well you respond to "Spartan" probably depends on how much you enjoy Mamet's rat-a-tat rhythms or, more specifically, how much you enjoy watching the actors' pleasure in his dialogue, which is considerable.
		But even when Mamet's movies are entertaining (like the ensemble comedy "State and Main,"), they always feel like an exercise, and "Spartan" is no exception.
		"Spartan" would have more resonance if it weren't so bone-dry: It struts around with a princely degree of pomposity, which only underscores how silly it really is. Mamet may think he's taken us through the looking glass.
	dir.salon.com /story/ent/movies/review/2004/03/12/spartan/index.html (579 words)

	TheMovieBoy Review - Spartan (2004)
		For those walking into "Spartan" without any knowledge of the premise, it doesn't even become clear until midway through that the missing girl is the President's daughter.
		Less satisfying is the lacking human element in "Spartan." The hero, Robert Scott, played with commanding presence by the always reliable Val Kilmer (2003's "Wonderland"), is in nearly every scene, but little is ever made known about his beliefs, his feelings, and his background.
		The Mamet dialogue, always counted on to be snappy and quirky and cleverly incendiary, isn't as memorable as usual, and the conclusion doesn't emotionally resound as much as it could have had the characters not been kept at a distance from the audience.
	www.themovieboy.com /reviews/s/04_spartan.htm (951 words)

	Louisville Scene \| Movies \| Movie Review \| 'Spartan' (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		This spy thriller provides a welcome respite from the usual overblown espionage movies, with a tightly wound script from David Mamet and an understated performance by Val Kilmer as a single-minded government agent who is assigned to rescue the president's kidnapped daughter.
		"Spartan" stars Val Kilmer as Robert Scott, a government operative who's assigned to rescue the president's college-age daughter Laura (Kristen Bell), who's been drugged and kidnapped by slave traders.
		His character in "Spartan" is enigmatic, requiring Kilmer to set the tone with expressions and body language.
	www.courier-journal.com /scene/2004/03/12/movie_spartan.html (378 words)

	The Anchorage Press, in Anchorage Alaska - (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Spartan is a movie that could easily fall through the cracks.
		Spartan feels audacious, but this is BECAUSE of its simplicity, not in spite of it.
		Spartan is about rules (notice them posted throughout the film - instructions written on paper, chalkboards, hung on walls and carried in pockets), and a man who has to face the dark side of living a life within them.
	www.anchoragepress.com /moviereviews/spartan.shtml (682 words)

	spartan04
		The movie is the work of Pulitzer-winning playwright-turned-director David Mamet, who has one of the craziest ears for dialogue I have ever heard.
		Mamet carries his spy epic “Spartan” like last year’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” in which very, very little, if anything, is explained for the audience’s benefit.
		She is the President’s daughter, although the movie would never tell you that; phrases such as “President,” “White House,” and “First Lady” never crop up, and there are only one or two mentions of the Secret Service.
	www.geocities.com /fridaysaturdaymovie/spartan04.html (1090 words)

	'Spartan' Review -- Austin American-Statesman
		The daughter of a VIP (the president, surely, though the script is deliberately vague) has been abducted, and he is to help rescue her before the media finds out or unknown forces make her safety irrelevant.
		"Spartan" plays to the darkest suspicions viewers may have about the nature of political power, but (while some early audiences have evidently seen it as anti-Bush) there's nothing specific about the allusions here.
		Corrupting power in general is what the movie and its "worker bee" hero come to challenge, and this smart, nervy battle is as gripping as the conflict is timeless.
	www.austin360.com /movies/content/movies/reviews/s/spartan_aas.html (556 words)

	Movie Habit: Review of Spartan (2004), ****
		Spartan is the first outstanding movie of 2004, although not everyone will agree.
		Spartan is a brilliantly structured movie that doesn’t get boring after the first 40 minutes, assuming you appreciate Mamet’s approach.
		The king of Sparta, when neighbors asked for military aid, would send a single man. It works well with this movie, implying both "underequipped" and "disdainful of those who need help." It evokes the sacrifice that one soldier is asked to make in the name of an empty gesture.
	www.moviehabit.com /reviews/spa_ck04.shtml (1012 words)

	The DVD Journal \| Quick Reviews: Spartan
		Spartan takes some skillful, and some convoluted, turns as Kilmer's mission-oriented, ask-no-questions soldier experiences a crisis of faith in his objective and suspects unthinkable corruption in his superiors.
		Spartan barely registered in theaters during the Passion of the Christ-sated spring months of 2004, and although Mamet has never particularly been a force of box-office might, his satisfying 2001 thriller Heist still grossed five times Spartan's meager $5 million domestic take.
		The idiosyncratic auteur's terse dialogue lacks his usual color (a Mamet script without a memorable profanity is rare indeed), and the (fittingly) spartan nature of the scenario never allows room for the rough playfulness that enlivens Mamet's better works.
	www.dvdjournal.com /quickreviews/s/spartan.q.shtml (322 words)

	Spartan: A Movie Review by Jack Moore (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Mamet, despite his historically brilliant screenplays, stuffs more plot into Spartan than he knows how to handle, and the result is a over-prolonged bore.
		One such costar is Derek Luke, the young man from Antwone Fisher who displayed such formidable talent, is wasted in Spartan, without speaking so much as a single line of dialogue at a time.
		Spartan is one of the few films that slips out of Mamet's grasp by the end, and the result is a little less than satisfying.
	www.mooremovies.com /spartan.htm (685 words)

	Amazon.ca: Spartan: DVD: David Mamet,Robert Bella,Chino Binamo,Ron Butler,Norm Compton,Steven Culp,Jim Frangione,Clark ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		The first two-thirds of the movie details the efforts of a team of investigators to track down the kidnapped first daughter.
		As with other Mamet movies, the stylized line readings and aversion to naturalism take some getting used to, but they are crucial to Mamet's efforts to nudge the movie into the abstract.
		This movie was just a dull action film dressed up (and not very convincingly) as an art film or as something with intellectual appeal.
	www.amazon.ca /Spartan-David-Mamet/dp/B00022XE6S (1303 words)

	Spartan
		The thing that makes David Mamet’s 'Spartan' so thrilling and exciting to watch is not the story...but the specific way that he has chosen to tell the story.
		If Spartan is preposterous, it's also weirdly watchable, since Mamet packs his movie with more plot than I've seen in the last 30 Hollywood thrillers combined.
		In “Spartan,” Mamet uses a typical action plot to tackle one of the biggest con artists of all: the president of the United States.
	www.rottentomatoes.com /m/spartan (897 words)

	Spartan - zBoneman Movie Reviews
		After all it had a terrific cast, a story even more compelling than the one in Man on Fire and yet it was in and out of town before I had a chance to look it up in the paper.
		You'll like "Spartan" if you appreciate a shootout roughly every 10 minutes in which at least one person is killed for reasons that are entirely unclear.
		Eventually, some of the killings will be explained, but the explanations will seem plausible to you only if you accept the movie's unspoken premise: The world's a very dangerous place, full of evil people - and the only way to survive in it is to shoot first and ask questions later.
	www.zboneman.com /movies/Spartan-774.html (1071 words)

	SPLICEDwire \| "Spartan" movie review (2004) "Spartan" review, David Mamet, Val Kilmer, Derek Luke
		It's a movie in which intellect trumps exposition to the point that most of the characters aren't clearly identified, making all of them seem more shadowy and dangerous.
		At it's heart, "Spartan" is a popcorn-conventional conspiracy seat-gripper, but Mamet's intellectual fingerprints (if not his trademark clipped dialogue patterns) are all over the film as he drops you deep into the fray, providing character detail only on a need-to-know basis.
		This ending still isn't Tom Clancy (not Boy Scout enough) or "24" (it lacks the often preposterous cheese factor of that real-time counter-terrorism thriller on Fox), but it's a bit of a pedestrian comedown for a movie that otherwise turns its conventions on their ears.
	www.splicedonline.com /04reviews/spartan.html (774 words)

	Spartan DVD at Video Universe
		Twists and turns in the storyline are a Mamet trademark, and SPARTAN is no exception, with Kilmer and co. meeting a variety of bizarre dead ends on their desperate search for the abducted girl.
		A lead in the case suggests that Newton has been sold to a white slavery ring in Dubai, and a mission is mounted to find her, with Scott and Curtis at the helm.
		Spartan sizzles with twists and turns, action and surprises.
	www.cduniverse.com /search/xx/movie/pid/6733027/a/Spartan.htm (511 words)

	SPARTAN DVD Site
		Which is what happens in the second act of this movie, which is what happens in the second act of the fairy tale.
		And so the point or the trick of the movie is that we spend eight reels hearing that the president’s daughter is this perfect person.
		Franchise Pictures presents Spartan, a political thriller written and directed by DAVID MAMET and starring VAL KILMER, DEREK LUKE, ED O’NEILL and WILLIAM H. Spartan is produced by ART LINSON, MOSHE DIAMANT and ELIE SAMAHA, and executive produced by FRANK HUBNER.
	spartanthemovie.warnerbros.com (1650 words)

	Spartan Movie Review at Hollywood Video
		As for Kilmer, his spare, emotionally contained performance is one of his best—on a par with his work in Thunderheart (1992), Heat (1995), and the underrated The Salton Sea (2002).
		While Kilmer dominates Spartan, the ultimate star of the film is writer/director Mamet, an incredibly versatile filmmaker who's made everything from violent crime dramas (Homicide) to G-rated period dramas (The Winslow Boy).
		At a time when most studio-concocted thrillers jettison logic and plausibility for cheap shock effects (case in point: Twisted), Spartan is the uncommonly intelligent and absorbing exception.
	www.hollywoodvideo.com /movies/movie.aspx?MID=138788 (770 words)

	SPARTAN - DVD
		Kilmer's character is reduced to "The Man" and he refers to all women as either "The Girl" or "Baby"--in a climactic scene, as he and Laura are stalked in an airplane hanger, the villains' wooden declaration of "You, stop.
		The implications--animalism the least of them--to that sort of bullshit is the sort of thing that nudges Spartan from just another bad Mamet movie into an altogether rarer clime, one shared by other obsolete cultural artifacts interesting mainly for their ability to place the worst of the society that spawned them in context.
		Spartan is a barometer (and it knows it, referencing the effect of barometric pressure on human perception)--but knowing it doesn't excuse it.
	www.filmfreakcentral.net /dvdreviews/spartan.htm (771 words)

	Spartan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Spartan Health Sciences University, a medical school in St.
		"SPARTAN" is also the name of a scientific platform carried on Space Shuttle missions STS-64, STS-69 and STS-77 in the mid-1990s.
		Spartan, a 2004 movie written and directed by David Mamet and starring Val Kilmer.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Spartan (199 words)

	Val Kilmer: Spartan - Movie
		Orinally, I loved this movie and actually saw it three times in the theater (don't ask me why).
		Honestly the best part of the movie was the credits because that meant the movie was over.
		If this movie were watched out on a desert island by someone that had not seen a thriller since, oh, 1991, it would probably get 4 stars.
	www.superiorpics.com /val_kilmer/movie/2004_spartan.html (774 words)

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