Comments on: Spartan

By: Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:43:42 +0000

Finally got around to watching this, and man, why did I wait so long? Such a great movie. I know Mamet’s thing is his dialogue, but in this one his silences speak volumes. Such a treat to see a movie that lets me look and listen for myself without beating me over the head with every little thing. And it was a perfect part for Val Kilmer, putting his icy aloofness to good use. Anybody seen any of his recent DTV action work? Any good?

By: RRA

RRA — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:47:41 +0000

What I dig is Mamet is trying to Kurosawa-himself with these “action” movies, which really are more like dramas for they’re done/acted just as seriously. Which also happen to have good action shit in them.

Notice how both SPARTAN and REDBELT are about a warrior all alone having to fight for honor (or whether he considers as such) against his corrupt authority (Homeland Security, Tournament organizers) who actually think the hero is the real villain here.

I think SPARTAN is the better movie, but certainly REDBELT has the better ending.

By: Mouth

Mouth — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:49:50 +0000

This is one of the rare films that features a first half that is better and more intense than its second half, but is still overall very exciting and, in my opinion, excellent. If you can’t accept the Mametness, then I would think surely you would be more perturbed by Al Bundy showing up as the Secret Service’s boss. I rolled with it and had a helluva good time.

The music for Spartan is perfect, one of the original draws of this film when I stumbled upon it accidentally late one night years ago. And Spartan definitely has other pieces of that “weirdness” that garners Vern’s praise in overlooked, smaller-budget movies.

The Bruckheimer treatment scenario is an interesting mental exercise, and I think it helps highlight the superiority of Mamet as an artist, writer, & auteur.

By: RRA

RRA — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:39:07 +0000

Which “plot holes” and which “grating [dialogue] tics” do you exactly refer to?

By: PartyLikeIts1990

PartyLikeIts1990 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:13:21 +0000

Man, I watched this on your recommendation (which has never done me wrong in the past) and what a mistake. Fuckin’ Mamet. You can write this shit but you sure can’t SAY it, David! The grating Mamet tics in the dialogue felt so horribly forced, it was just ruining the film for me at every turn. I was so astounded (because I really liked Glengarry Glen Ross!) that I went and watched another Mamet flick after this one — Heist, with good old Gene Hackman. Even worse! Cliche characters, plot holes you could drive an airliner through, pointless reptition of cheeky smartass dialogue. Ugh.

Mamet is a hack. We should not be encouraging Hollywood to continue to employ this man. How did he ever get a reputation as someone worthwhile?

By: Brendan

Brendan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:24:45 +0000

Vern, I could have read it wrong, but I don’t think that the daughter was whoring herself out when she got grabbed, like you said. She was just hanging out in a hotel or something, and her Dad took away her security so h could go out ‘tom-catiing’ as the lady tells Kilmer. So that makes it a little more plausible I think that they grabbed her with no idea who she was.

By: telf

telf — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:02:21 +0000

“You wanna gossip or you wanna shoot somebody?”

Magic.