"Spartan" is a twisty thriller, but is it too farfetched?

I absolutely loved "Heist" and "The Spanish Prisoner", so when "Spartan" was coming to our Camp Theater I decided I had to go see it.

The acoustics in the Theater were terrible, so I could only understand about half of what was said. Also, the movies they show here are severly edited. It appeared that the first half of the movie was pretty much intact, but the second half was disjointed. It might have been a great film, but I'm going to have to see it for real to be able to tell.

I'll be buying "Spartan" the next time I make an Amazon order, and will watch it the next time I'm home on leave.

Mamet is incredibly secretive about his projects. I actually prefer seeing his films at home on DVD so I can pause, go back in the film and fun stuff like that. He does take on complex plotlines that inch towards the unbelievable (come on, "Heist" was almost totally out there). His best film might still remain "House of Games," but I enjoy all of his work -- I'm always fascinated while biting my nails as to what will happen to the characters.

Just saw "Spartan" on the DVD edition and didn't find it too far-fetched. It was along the lines of "The Day of the Condor" with the protagonist suddenly finding himself in the situation he was in. It's always fascinating to read the clues as the picture unfolds and I think between my Nephew and I, we caught all of them the second time around. The agent who "committed suicide" at the beginning of the film really pointed in the right direction.

***Warning, possible spoilers ahead!***

I watched it again, with the subtitles on, and have to say I got it and really enjoyed it!!!

The first time through, I could believe that the president could have a wild child daughter who might find herself kidnapped without it being related to who she was, and I believe that there could be white slave trade going into arabic countries, but I had a hard time believing the president could be described as a savage who doesn't know how many children he has... and I couldn't figure out why handlers would want to handle a savage- wouldn't they be looking for the charismatic doofus who'd accept the strings and jump on command? The pres in this wasn't doing that... so it lost me and made me wonder... Then the whole bit with the handlers and double crosses... Now granted, Mamet pretty much always has twists and double crosses, but these were confusing- at least without the subtitles on... And why Scott was so interested in saving her, was it because he finally put on his thinking cap? (And was he representative of the american public under our current president and handlers?)

But then, with the subtitles, Ed O'Neill at the end, has a great monologue that I think states Mamet's position, it went something like, "Terror takes on many forms. I can conceive of no act of terror more unforgivable than the ultimate destruction of a human soul..." then he spins the action as "A simple American act..." brought home the first daughter, and "American daughters are the soul of this country." In light of how the whole movie had portrayed the first daughter- Oh my God!!! Heavy. Mamet is a genius.

But, I still don't know what Trafalgar Square is supposed to represent at the end there... There are probably layers of meaning in choosing that location for the final shot...

I guessed immediately who the victim was and I figured on the double crosses -- still fascinating and entertaining as hell. Trafalgar Square...hmmm, have to think about that.

It was an entertaining movie. Boy, I sure would hate to believe that the Secret Service would cooperate with a hugely unethical plot like this.

It was timely in pointing out the very real possibility that within our covert and secret operations of the Secret Service, the CIA, the NSA and the FBI (and whatever secret organization we may know nothing about) there is a politization that could easily effect events. Maybe not to this aggrivated degree but in politics, anything seems to be possible. The Goss/Cheney connection is especially troubling.