With David Mamet you certainly know what you’re getting: usually
a well-crafted story with interesting but weirdly-delivered dialog
and several plot twists. Spartan doesn’t disappoint.

In the movie, Val Kilmer plays a Marine, the sort of guy who is
single-mindedly focused on his mission. He explains that he is a
shooter, that he isn’t a thinker and never wanted to be. Then of
course he is forced into an existential crisis where he can no longer
abdicate his privilege to choose.

This is the sort of thing authors must write into movies. I see
it in allegorical terms, you need to take some shortcuts with reality
both to provide action and to fit your film into the allotted two
hours.