'SPARTAN' | A review Smart, subtle film deserves better studio treatment

The movie, written and directed by David Mamet, is a thriller for grown-ups.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
By not screening "Spartan" for members of the press until two nights before the film's opening, Warner Brothers demonstrated the kind of cowardice usually reserved for the unveiling of a new Steven Seagal movie.
What exactly did Warner think they were hiding? Compounding their boneheaded decision is the fact that "Spartan" was written and directed by the great David Mamet, one of the true giants in contemporary film ("The Spanish Prisoner," "State and Main") and theater ("Glengarry Glen Ross," "American Buffalo").
Have they already written "Spartan" off because they thought it was too smart and subtle to appeal to a wide audience? Certainly the paltry 800-print break -- most major studio releases these days routinely open on 2,000-plus screens -- doesn't bode well for its chances of making a major dent at the box office. For shame.
If the stark, unsettling "Spartan" doesn't rank among Mamet's best work, it's still head-and-shoulders above most anything else -- including Warner's "Taking Lives" and "Scooby-Doo 2" -- currently available at your neighborhood Bijou.
Val Kilmer continues the career rebound he started with 2002's "The Salton Sea" and last year's "Wonderland" as special government agent Scott who's assigned the highly sensitive task of finding the U.S. president's missing daughter.
Lone wolf
Despite the fact that Scott is partnered with rookie Curtis (Derek Luke from "Antwone Fisher & quot;), "Spartan" isn't a cop-buddy movie per se. In fact, it's not long before Scott is working the case solo, the better to bend the rules and go "off the meter" as Youngstown native Ed O'Neill instructs him in a strong, if purposefully brief, supporting turn. (That enigmatic title, by the way, comes from the ancient Spartan practice of soldiers' going into perilous military situations alone.)
The slippery slope that Scott is soon navigating -- one involving a government conspiracy at the highest level -- never takes the direction you're expecting it to. Mamet skillfully keeps us off-balance from the opening scene by immediately plunging into the thick of the action and refusing to spoon-feed information. The dialogue is wonderfully terse and flavorful (a Mamet specialty), and it's refreshing to see a thinking-man's thriller where you actually have to pay close attention to the intricacies of the plot.
By the time Mamet alter-ego William H. Macy (as a White House operative) and Kilmer finally square off during the movie's climax, it's a real gripper.
Confidence shines through
One of the most satisfying things about Mamet's evolution as a filmmaker since 1987's "House of Games" is noticing how increasingly confident he's become behind the camera. The striking wide-screen cinematography by Mamet regular Juan Ruiz Anchia and Mark Isham's understated, propulsive score signify a director in full command of his adopted medium.
Although some of playwright Mamet's earlier work ("Oleanna," "Homicide") displayed a hesitancy about fully embracing the separate but equal disciplines of cinema, he now thinks exclusively in "movie terms."
Whether moviegoers used to having everything spelled out for them are willing to go along for the ride is another matter. Apparently Warner Brothers doesn't think we're smart enough to make that leap, which probably explains their less than full-fledged support of one of the new year's strongest, most bracing grown-up entertainments.
XWrite Milan Paurich at milanpaurich@aol.com