Support NeoGAF

[Templar Wizard]

my only knowledge of this movie was a trailer i had seen a few months back, seemed a generic 'get her back for me specialist!'-flick (didnt it get a theatre release around the same time as man on fire?)

found out that it was a David Mamet movie, and being a fan of his work (great scriptwriter) i took a peek.

(i have stayed away from scene spoilers and actors listing intentionally)

this is a movie you do not see with a girl, throughout the majority of the movie the principals speak in Mil-Jargon. a woman would piss you off with her endless questions.
so be warned.
which means that its a delight for the male viewer. there is no 'explainer'-scene, you have to pay attention to whats going, because there is no re-cap.
although not the best movie you will see this year, it is smart enough to keep you watching until the end.

a couple of bad points: as it is going for a realistic feel, it means that there are no set-pieces, so you may feel a bit empty if you are waiting for a car chase or gunfight.

mamets script can be a 'wordy' at times. dont get me wrong, he is a great scriptwriter, but when character#3 is screaming and then the next second quoting classical literature...
we KNOW you are smart Davie, there is no need to show off.

all in all: 7.3/10

and for a movie in the 'agent must solve kidnap'-genre 8.9/10

 

[siege]

I liked it too. Not a bad flick at all.

Wish I could say the same for Kill Bill Vol 2 after having just watched it.

 

[way more]

I like Mamet and I like Mr. Kilmer but I've heard this movie is pretty weak. I also like crime dramas so I am probably bound to see this and make a gushing post later.

 

[Grifter]

Some non-idiot girls actually know about Mamet's dialogue style. My GF loves him and we catch all his movies opening weekend.

This was my favorite Kilmer movie in a while, really fun, higher stakes Mamet.

 

[yoshifumi]

i thought it was awesome, if only for the fact that val kilmer is a total badass in it.

 

[Warm Machine]

Yeah, one of the top movies of the year for me so far as well. One of the few films that just had me gripped right from the opening.

 

[calder]

I really, really liked it. Not Mamet's best work, not quite as perfect as it could have been but if you like his style (and movies that slowly unfold where you don't even really know what happened for the first 20 minutes) it's a fantastic thriller. To say it was Kilmers best work in years is a huge understatement.

If you're like me, playing the "who knew what when/who did what when" game at the end with the ppl you saw it with is great. At the end of the movie, you know the big basic answers to the major questions but trying to puzzle out the details makes you realize how subtle the plot is.

One thing though - I saw the movie knowing almost nothing about it except that Kilmer was in it, it was a thriller, and a girl was kidnapped.

 

[Mason]

I loved Spartan. I saw it the day it came out without knowing anything and was incredibly impressed. I came and posted a thread about it but didn't get much of a response.

 

[StrikerObi]

We showed this movie at the student theatre here on campus. Almost everybody walked out of it saying they hated it. The only people who said they knew it were my friends and coworkers who said they thought it was very good.

So is this movie a real thinking man's movie? Because the greek types that saw it just didn't like it at all. People were actually coming up to the box office and complaining about how bad it was (FYI: students see movies for free).

 

[Fjord]

Val Kilmer is so hardcore.

 

[=W=]

I was a bit skeptical of this movie, because I hated Heist so much, but I really enjoyed it. The first half of it was confusing to me because the dialogue was so fast-paced and I wasn't sure if I would need to understand everything they were saying in order to understand the rest of the movie, but it didn't really matter.

Spoiler

Plus, the presiden't daughter was HOT

 

[Grifter]

I think this was more polarizing than a lot of his work. He generally breaks screenwriting rules but this was just daring. I felt that he implied more and explained even less than usual, and the way he constantly takes the plot one way and then swerves completely out of that direction into another would prolly turn off many viewers.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

I'm hopefully not the only twisted bastard to get a chuckle from

Spoiler

Derek Luke's character surviving a shotgun blast at the gas station, only to have his head blown off a few scenes later.

 

[Meier]

Saw it back during its theatrical run.. thought it was pretty good although I remember having a few issues with it. Underrated though to be sure.

 

[fart]

it's good as a deconstruction of the (tired) thriller format. bad if you take it seriously

 

[yoshifumi]

I'm hopefully not the only twisted bastard to get a chuckle from

Spoiler

Derek Luke's character surviving a shotgun blast at the gas station, only to have his head blown off a few scenes later.

that part was awesome

i thought it was hilarious that

Spoiler

when the president's daughter tries to get away from kilmer, he just punches her in the stomach

 

[Pellham]

i thought it was awesome. I love Mamet. Also if you loved Spartan, you might want to check out The Spanish Prisoner.