Grade:  B

Director:  David Mamet		Released:  March 2004
Writer:  David Mamet		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, Tia Texada, Kristen Bell, Ed O'Neill, William H. Macy		Running time:  106 minutes

Ratings System

The first half of Spartan is excellent, it's what I imagine a movie version of 24 would be like, it thrills like few movies I've seen in recent years.  Too bad the second half lost all momentum, prompting me to assign 3 separate grades.  First half: A, Second half: C, Overall: B.

Val Kilmer is fun to root for as a master military tactician and all-around tough-guy, along with his military cohorts, a couple of which I was sad to see meet their demise.  Perhaps if they had lived a little longer, the later parts of the film would have been more interesting.  And damn, I wish Ed O'Neill would show up more often in supporting roles like this.  I love the guy, he's perfect here, and I've admired his work in films like Blue Chips and Dutch.

You could do worse than to spend an hour and a half with Spartan.

- crocoPuffs