The profane, prolific screenwriter and director David Mamet has regularly turned material we've seen too often into the kind of stimulating drama that we never see enough of. He has his work cut out for him with the familiar outline of his latest film, Spartan (R).
After the daughter of a U.S. president is kidnapped, the task of rescuing her falls to a loner agent (Val Kilmer), code named "Spartan." It's apparent from the preview trailers that the trail will lead Spartan to the deepest throats of the White House, where a few of the president's men are acting suspicious.
If anyone can make this stuff seem fresh, it's Mamet, a master of sharp-tongued words and serpentine plots that previously spiced up such tried and true conventions as caper flicks (Heist, Ronin), backstage romances (State and Main) and movie stings (The Spanish Prisoner). Not to mention Glengarry Glen Ross and Wag the Dog, true originals ranking among the best screenplays of the past 25 years.
Mamet brings along one of the best interpreters of his work, William H. Macy (The Cooler, Seabiscuit), playing a politically ambitious Washington insider. The cast also includes Derek Luke, so good as Antwone Fisher, as the agent assigned to assist Spartan, who's as reluctant to take on a partner as lone wolves typically are in these circumstances. Mamet needed to work extra hard on that one.
Spartan was screened too late for Weekend review. See Friday's page 2B for a full review.
Adolescent sleuth in London
There wasn't much clamor for a sequel to Agent Cody Banks, but here it is anyway. Child star Frankie Muniz, losing the race against time and puberty, returns as a teenage CIA agent using incredible gadgets to save the world. Agent Cody Banks: Destination London is aimed at the same audience that is currently, inexplicably, making kid sludge like Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over a hit on DVD.
As the title suggests, Cody Banks is called to London to search for a super-secret weapon of mass destruction before it falls into the wrong hands. Cody poses as a boarding school student because that's where international terrorists must hang out when dealing with a teenage secret agent. The kid can't get into a casino like James Bond, you know.
This time Cody has a new chaperone named Derek (Anthony Anderson), whose chief responsibility in preview trailers is shrinking in fear whenever Cody takes another chance. Since he's at a new school, Cody has a new pretty girl (Hannah Spearritt) to get tongued-tied about, constantly blowing his Agent 007-style cool. At least Agent Cody Banks: Destination London isn't in 3-D.
