Another brilliant twisty double bluff what the hells going to happen next film from David Mamet. Val Kilmer is a special-ops agent called in to find the presidents kidnapped daughter (with a recent dye job) before the kidnappers realise who they have got.
Scotts (Kilmer) character follows ... Read review
Robert Scott (Val Kilmer)is a US government secret agent. A man hardened by years of ... more
brutal service, he is feared by his peers and enemies alike. His newest assignment is to find Laura Newton (Kristen Bell), the teenaged daughter of a high government o...
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Advantages: David Mamet directs Disadvantages: rushed ending
Another brilliant twisty double bluff what the hells going to happen next film from David Mamet. Val Kilmer is a special-ops agent called in to find the presidents kidnapped daughter (with a recent dye job) before the kidnappers realise who they have got.
Scotts (Kilmer) character follows orders and gets things done any way he can, he starts by intimidating the daughters recent ex, the guard who was supposed to be protecting her (who ... ...which leads to a middle eastern slavery auction where she will be sold on to the highest bidder. Scott heads off after her but the body of a drowned girl turns up, is reported as being her and he is pulled off the case.
So far scott has been doing as he is told, following orders & trusting his superiors but his partner has spotted something during an earlier line of investigation and when they go back to double check he is shot by ... more
Another brilliant twisty double bluff what the hells going to happen next film from David Mamet. Val Kilmer is a special-ops agent called in to find the presidents kidnapped daughter (with a recent dye job) before the kidnappers realise who they have got.
Scotts (Kilmer) character follows orders and gets things done any way he can, he starts by intimidating the daughters recent ex, the guard who was supposed to be protecting her (who commits suicide because of the shame!) & a brothel/escort Co which leads to a middle eastern slavery auction where she will be sold on to the highest bidder. Scott heads off after her but the body of a drowned girl turns up, is reported as being her and he is pulled off the case.
So far scott has been doing as he is told, following orders & trusting his superiors but his partner has spotted something during an earlier line of investigation and when they go back to double check he is shot by shadowy figures on a fishing boat. Scott now realises that there's something rotten going on and gets in touch with his connections in the underground, the plot now becomes a little strained as he goes 'lone wolf' and seems to fund his own attack on the building in Dubai where he now believes the girl to be held.
Once he rescues her we start to see more secret service agents emerge from the woodwork to try and cover things up, quite embarassing after she has been declared dead, but Scott is saved by the lucky arrival of a swedish documentary crew who catch her on film. An unimaginative ending but it made me wonder just how much goes on that we are not aware of and how happy the media are to follow the official line without verification.
I felt Kilmer was playing outside his usual range and did well but William H Macy, who i love, was barely used until the final scenes where the film was wrapped up in a very predictable way. Mamet always fills his films with twists but this one didn't have quite as many as say Heist which is probably his most accessable(& comparable) movie to date.
Wag the dog followed similar lines of media manipulation of political situations but in a comedic way rather than action/drama. If you are new to Mamet you would probably be better off starting with Heist, Untouchables or Ronin. If you like plot twists and don't mind taking a chance with something new then Spanish prisoner or House of games are well worth a look.
Director : David mamet (state & main, Heist) Starring : Val Kilmer (Saint, Heat, Wonderland) Tia Texada (Phone booth, 13th Floor) Advertising tag line "shes missing" Rated 15 Released 2004 Runtime 106 mins (1 hour 46)
Advantages: A few giggles, good soundtrack Disadvantages: Not funny, bad scenery and sets,
and time then they could have drastically improved this to make the film seem a bit more proper and real.
There were lots of character in the film which featured in other films, for instance, Rocky, Ghost Rider and th4e Transformers which were good but had no relevance to this story, they did create a little amount of humour but nothing to laugh out loud at. I think that the role of Paris Hilton was so pointless, a bit like the real one, and found her to be just as annoying and I really don?t know why she was included in the film.
There was a very mixed soundtrack in the film and I did find I enjoyed some of the songs. I especially thought that the songs which were used for the Spartans skipping off to war were great. I think I would probably say that the soundtrack was the best part of this film.
The DVD which I have does have some ...
I first saw to advert to Meet the Spartans in the cinema. I bought the Dvd and watched 5 times and i still laugh!
All babies are inspected if they aren't good they are thrown if they are true spartans they are raised to be warriors. One child is kept he is tortured, made to endure the cold to become a king. But then the Persians come. They want to take over Sparta. But i am sure King Leonidas has something to say about this.
So watch the movie:
Learn how to greet the Spartan way.
Learn to cuss Spartan style
Leasrn how to breakdance badly....
The film is rated PG-13 in the US and 12 in the UK for crude and sexual humor throughout, language, and some comic violence.
- Peter ...
After having to endure both Date Movie, and Epic Movie; and enjoying slating them muc more than watching them; in a sick and demented manner I rather looked forward to watching Meet The Spartans, knowing damn well before the movie even started that it was going to be bad.
Meet The Spartans is bad, but I have to say not as bad as Epic or Date movie, it's still pretty shocking though and neither muppets Jason Friedberg or Aaron Seltzer have learned their lessons from the past turning out some of the worst ratings in American comedy history. Saddest part is that the general public while absolutely hate this sort of dire drivel keep splashing out their cash in the hope that the next one of these dogs abortions turn out to be the next Airplane or Naked Gun. Sadly of course unless the movie has the name Zucker involved, you're never going ...
Acclaimed playwright David Mamet continues his movie-directing career with the noirish political thriller SPARTAN. Mamet clearly relishes a challenge, and by casting former Hollywood bad boy Val Kilmer in the lead role, this could be his biggest risk yet. Fortunately it's one that pays off, as Kilmer excels throughout in his role as Robert Scott, a high ranking special operations agent. Scott's expertise is called upon when the daughter of the U.S. President, Laura Newton (Kristen Bell), is kidnapped while studying at Harvard. Teaming up with rookie officer Curtis (Derek Luke), and a variety of Secret Service agents, Scott enters into a dangerous race against time to find Laura before the media gets its claws into the story. 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. But when the mission is aborted at the last minute, Scott unwittingly stumbles into a possible Government cover up, which on further investigation leads him up to his neck in scandal, conspiracy, and a threat to his own life. Mamet clearly enjoys keeping viewers guessing, and as he continues to cloud the plot in smoke and mirrors, he ensures that nothing can be taken for granted right up until the final minute of the film.
Compelling...superb dialogue and twists...his [Kilmer's] is a powerful performance (Empire, )
Twisty and hardboiled. Mamet's best film for a long time (FHM, )
Great performance from Val Kilmer (Time Out, )
DVD Description
Acclaimed playwright David Mamet continues his movie-directing career with the noirish political thriller SPARTAN. Mamet clearly relishes a challenge, and by casting former Hollywood bad boy Val Kilmer in the lead role, this could be his biggest risk yet. Fortunately it's one that pays off, as Kilmer excels throughout in his role as Robert Scott, a high ranking special operations agent. Scott's expertise is called upon when the daughter of the U.S. President, Laura Newton (Kristen Bell), is kidnapped while studying at Harvard. Teaming up with rookie officer Curtis (Derek Luke), and a variety of Secret Service agents, Scott enters into a dangerous race against time to find Laura before the media gets its claws into the story. 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. But when the mission is aborted at the last minute, Scott unwittingly stumbles into a possible Government cover up, which on further investigation leads him up to his neck in scandal, conspiracy, and a threat to his own life. Mamet clearly enjoys keeping viewers guessing, and as he continues to cloud the plot in smoke and mirrors, he ensures that nothing can be taken for granted right up until the final minute of the film.
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