The Hell With This Podcast #12 - Spartan

[Chad Peter]

"Spartan" (2004)

Sternly disciplined and rigorously simple.

It’s not just an adjective, it’s a movie thanks to David Mamet who brings his trademark “so unrealistic, it starts to sound realistic” dialogue to this 2004 thriller. No, it's not a prequel to 300. This is a story of manly men (and Val Kilmer) working all night and day to rescue a girl. Which girl? Well, the movie never states it plainly, but I’m sure you can figure it out. It’s sitting at a 6.6 on IMDB, probably due to audiences expecting something like Taken and getting something like The Spanish Prisoner with more knives. Honestly, it can be a confusing movie if you’re unable to piece together the story from the bits of information it reluctantly gives you. A Mamet film can be like a cold, withholding mother who doesn’t really want you to succeed because then you might move out of the house…

Oh yeah, and it co-stars Kristen Bell just as she was about to hit the big time in Veronica Mars. Mark loves this movie, Chad is indifferent.

http://www.np2k.com/podcast/episodes/TH ... PARTAN.mp3

Spartan (2004)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360009/combined

Performers of note: Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, Ed O'Neill, William H. Macy, Tia Texada, and Kristen Bell.

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[Heiliger]

This is a great movie, but I will concede this point: It doesn't seem to be about anything other than the plot. There is almost no human connection present either. The main character has a mission and decides to continue his mission even after his superiors have called him off. At best, we're learning something about David Mamet's definition of a hero and a little bit about his political leanings through other parts of the movie. Gotta say this doesn't bother me nearly as much as it would in another movie written and directed by someone else. This one is a lot of fun for me because it is ridiculously economic in its writing and it's got a desert dry wit throughout.

I will also say it's weird how important Val Kilmer's knife becomes in the last half of the movie. Feels like a rewrite because I don't think that thing show up at all in the first 45 minutes.

[Lance]

You guys were (kind of) wondering what Val Kilmer was up to lately: he's billed in Song to Song but must be a small, supporting role because you don't see him in the trailer.
Now you know.

[Heiliger]

I also looked into what he's been up to. He had surgery on a tumor a couple years ago and ever since then, his tongue has been swollen and severely affects his speech. Pretty hard to be making a ton of movies when you have that happen to you. https://youtu.be/LTz1qCvNUhs?t=37s

[Chad Peter]

Yeah, hopefully Kilmer doesn't have cancer, but it doesn't seem great in any regard. I guess his religion doesn't believe in modern medical procedures or some such. Allegedly.

[Lance]

Just picked this up to add to the collection, haven't watched it yet though.

[Chad Peter]

Nice! Curious what you think.

[Lance]

I finally sat down and watched this after adding it to my collection. I have to say I did enjoy it as I do enjoy me some spy movies. The dialogue took a minute to get used to, I wasn't expecting it to be as deadpan as it was but it did add a layer of interest to the completely stoic feel of the characters making constant use of metaphor and double entendre. The pace was good, the story was decent, the cinematography was visually interesting. I was drawn to the long dolly takes in the precinct scene between everything going on. Any way, I liked it. Not as much as I liked Spy Games but that's neither here nor there.

[Chad Peter]

I finally sat down and watched this after adding it to my collection. I have to say I did enjoy it as I do enjoy me some spy movies. The dialogue took a minute to get used to, I wasn't expecting it to be as deadpan as it was but it did add a layer of interest to the completely stoic feel of the characters making constant use of metaphor and double entendre. The pace was good, the story was decent, the cinematography was visually interesting. I was drawn to the long dolly takes in the precinct scene between everything going on. Any way, I liked it. Not as much as I liked Spy Games but that's neither here nor there.

Excellent. Mark will be giddy to hear we (he) turned you onto the flick!