Spartan

A special ops agent (Val Kilmer) tracks the president’s kidnapped daughter.

Spartan is a somewhat uneven movie that’s rewarding nonetheless.

Val Kilmer tries very hard, but I never quite bought him in the lead. He brings a quiet melancholy to his performances that serves him well in such films as Heat and The Salton Sea, and indeed serves him well here in the second half, but the problem is that he can’t shake the melancholy off for the first act, and thus his character arc is far less pronounced. Still, despite not buying Kilmer in the lead, I can’t think of anyone else who I would buy (okay, maybe Christian Bale in five or six years,) so maybe it’s just me.

The supporting cast around Kilmer is a knockout. Ed O’Neill and William H. Macy in particular shine in what are really extended cameos, as do supporting players Derek Luke and Tia Texada.

The script by writer/director David Mamet crackles with great dialog made up of shoptalk and fragments. While some of the lines don’t work (“You don’t wanna go to the desert.”), this may have more to do with the delivery than the line itself. The underlying story has some holes, but the way Mamet presents it, trusting the audience to put the pieces together, is very rewarding.

It’s not perfect, but intelligent action/thrillers are a rare breed.