Spartan

(Herald rating: **)

David Mamet has another crack at directing with this political thriller starring Val Kilmer as Robert "Bobby" Scott, a Government agent with no family, love life or responsibilities, who is assigned to track a politician's missing daughter, Laura Newton (Kristin Bell).

After penning the likes of The Untouchables and Glengarry Glen Ross you would suggest that Mamet should stick to the writing, but his impenetrable script is one of the problems here.

* DVD, Video rental out now