Spartan provides decent thrills

The story driving Spartan is simple enough – someone important has been kidnapped, and secret agents must get her back. Writer-director David Mamet proves that he is competent and that someone besides Tom Clancy can create a decent spy thriller. The espionage and backstabbing are believable enough too, but this film still lacks some crucial elements in the acting category.

Spartan opens at a paramilitary U.S. training camp, where the main characters are introduced. Bobby Scott (Val Kilmer) is an elite American special-ops soldier overseeing the induction of new members to his unit. These include Curtis (Derek Luke), a wide-eyed recruit who manages to ingratiate himself somewhat with Scott, and Jacqueline Black (Tia Texada), a junior instructor.

Their grueling training is rudely interrupted when a high-level politician's daughter is kidnapped and Scott and Curtis are called up to lead the efforts to find her. All of the early signs point to a ring of sex-smugglers who abduct blond women and ship them to Yemen, where they are prized possessions. Scott and Curtis have to travel the country and eventually the world, shaking down pimps and foreigners to find her. However, things quickly become more complicated than they seem, and Curtis realizes that this kidnapping may have a far more sinister motive than someone's desire for a blond. Scott and Curtis quickly fall into a web of lies, betrayal and bullets as they try to crack the case.

The film succeeds admirably in several areas. The overall plot is suspenseful and difficult to predict, with a couple of great twists that send the characters and audience reeling. Traditional spy-movie elements of high-tech gadgetry, black-suited assault squads and military lingo are all used well to support the plot and characters. Also, the cinematography is well done, with several memorably artful shots and punchy gunfights where shells and blood aplenty fly.

Unfortunately, Spartan fails just as noticeably in other areas. A fundamental question comes to mind: which came first, bad acting or wooden dialogue? In this case, the answer appears to be a little of both. Val Kilmer shows none of the flair and bravado from past performances like his brilliant turn as Doc Holliday in Tombstone, instead playing his part as boringly as a brick wall. The entire movie is littered with military clichés, like when Jacqueline Black tells Scott she teaches knife fighting. "Don't teach men knife fighting," he replies, "teach them how to kill, so if they meet a man who learned knife fighting they can send his soul to Hell." Almost every line in the movie possesses that level of melodrama, and this quickly becomes nearly as annoying as Scott's nagging catch phrase, "Oh baby."

Spartan is also extremely vague in some areas, requiring a large suspension of disbelief and causing some confusion. Although the kidnapped girl is obviously the President's daughter (she and her father are under constant Secret Service guard and he is running a re-election campaign) nobody ever comes out and says so. Also, the movie never really explains who Scott, Curtis or most of the other spooks work for, requiring the audience to accept them as ubiquitous men in suits with the power to do just about anything they want. Finally, Spartan suffers from another common Hollywood plot problem - all of the minority characters end up turning into target practice.

In spite of these flaws, Spartan ends up being a passable thriller. Though it will probably not be remembered as anything special, this movie has an excellent espionage plot and is worth catching for some thrills.

Spartan is rated R for language and violence.