Review of Spartan

Spartan (2004)
7/10
Contains a political dimension that shouldn't be overlooked
27 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently, one either "gets" this movie or not. It's true that, on the face of it, it can seem like just another low-key thriller with not much going for it. But to call it that would be simplistic. What we have here is a well-made action thriller that you don't quite know where you've got. Is it a run-of-the-mill thing, or something more, something subtler? The gratifying answer comes at the end, with the delivery of a stunning political punch-line. What was really going on was that the liberal daughter of a right-wing politician (senator? President?) was so outspoken against her father that the Secret Service (or NSA or whathaveyou) ignored her kidnapping and her sale into Arab sex-slavery, instead faking her death in order to preserve their fanatic political agenda; in order not to jeopardize the strident policy-setting "war on terror" stance of her politician father. Whether they also orchestrated her actual kidnapping and sale is not clear, but the strange suicide of the Secret Service man who left his post just before she was kidnapped at least raises the question.

It's not a great masterpiece, but it is well-made, thought-provoking and suspenseful, with a very satisfying ending. I rate it 7 out of 10.
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