Plot: What’s it about?
David Mamet’s screenplays has translated into some widescreen gems (The Edge, Ronin) by other directors that have given the material justice. Yet, Mamet had filmed his own written and directed movies spherically. Although one exception has made it to this year telling the tale of a mysterious man caught in a web of kidnapping, investigation and intrigue. The name of this tale is not an unoffical sequel to Demolition Man, being that the title is not the name of a person but a reference later on. The name of this film is Spartan
A well connected man named Scott (Val Kilmer) has been training others in his field to join his squad. One of the people he’s training (Derek Luke) wants to know him better and another (Tia Texada) wants to be remembered in case her services are needed. Scott is taken off training duty when his services are needed involving the kidnapping of a high official’s daughter. Knowing that he can’t do this investigation alone, he brings along both of those individuals from training but where the investigation leads can’t prepare them for how high up the food chain this investigation will lead.
This is territory that is related but different to Mamet dialogue and the results are surprisingly very good. It’s one of the least colorful screenplays of Mamet but it does seem to hint at some every once in a while . It does have a cut to the chase mood and a lot of intelligence that’s easy to follow but it does go into some surprising directions without being too obvious, which is always a good thing. It’s not as routine as it looks and the viewer knows they’re in for something in Mamet’s hands both as a writer and as a director.
As for the cast, Val Kilmer can add another intriguing character to his character list. His Scott is a chameleon that has a link to all and knows all but at the same time will go through any means to get the job done. He does it with a sense of brains and serious cool along with his character managing to retain his sense of mystery at the same time. Derek Luke and Tia Texada provide solid support at different times of the film and connect well with Scott in his search for the missing girl. They all want to be part of what Scott is investigating but despite their strengths, they don’t know what they’re in for.
David Mamet does a worthy job making great visual use of the wide Panavision frame (the first time the director has done so) along with, in the majority of those frames ,using the color red and blue. Although the environment changes at times, there never seems to be a sense of white.
With all of that, Spartan is another in the long list of Mamet involved films where the dialogue flows like fine wine and the film flows with the audience wanting to know what happens next throughout each scene. Spartan is an intriguingly entertaining thriller.
Video: How does it look?
As noted earlier, Spartan is shot in the Panavision 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and the results are great. There is a great deal of reds and blues in the frames of this motion picture and the transfer displays them nicely without overbleeding or oversaturating. With the exceptions of a few specks in the beginning of the film, the rest of the picture quality is clear and the print is clean without any evident hints of debris. With any environment change, comes a very good visual sense that has been retained nicely on this DVD. An excellent transfer.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track also has great results. The gunshots and the sweeping of action, score and dialogue surround all channels very nicely. The audio comes out very clear without a sense of muteness or distortion. Every sound effect and every bit of dialogue don’t come across as garbled and it makes for a great audio track, although there are no other language track but does have English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The disc has few extras but interesting ones. Along with the theatrical trailer (a good one I first noticed going to see Master and Commander last year), there is a commentary track by actor Val Kilmer. I will say this much about this track. Like the film, just when you think it’s going in one direction, it goes into another and remains constantly interesting and allows the viewer to be into the movie and listen to the commentary at the same time without being obviously gappy. His comments are most interesting talking about the shoot from his perspective and his character. If Robert Altman’s track on 3 Women was a great director’s track, Kilmer’s is one of the most uniquely great tracks from an actor’s point of view. He’s funny, eccentric and smart and I was constantly surprised, much as I was for the movie. It’s one of the few times that the mood of the film matched with the commentary.
Spartan represents one of this years most underrated films written and directed by a scribe master along with being one of the most underrated DVDs of the year as well, despite the lack of extras. Then again, why go over with extras when the commentary from Val Kilmer is a treat in itself that is worth more than extras?
A fine job and a fine DVD.
