If it weren’t so po-faced, David Mamet’s Spartan could be a companion piece to Wag The Dog (which he scripted); after all, both focus on the lengths the US Government will go to to cover up a potentially damaging scandal. Val Kilmer plays a special ops soldier probing the kidnapping of the President’s daughter.
When her death is announced, Kilmer suspects foul play. Initially, he seems to struggle with the Mamet cadences, but his is a powerful, performance, revealing a wistful humanity as his unauthorised investigation leads him into murky depths and forces him to re-evaluate his belief system.
Being a Mamet, we expect superb dialogue and twists, but we also get refreshingly compact action scenes, even if the climactic airport skirmish is on the pat side. A lesser Mamet, then, but still compelling.