Grade: B+

Verdict: Wordsmith David Mamet takes a whack at the action-suspense genre and does pretty well.

Could it possibly be that David Mamet -- the playwright-filmmaker best known for his tricksy movies like "The Spanish Prisoner" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" -- is thinking . . .franchise?

You have to wonder after watching "Spartan," in which Val Kilmer plays a special ops officer working for the U.S. government who fires off bullets and Mamet's patented staccato dialogue with equal aplomb.

When the president's daughter (Kristen Bell) disappears from her Harvard dorm room, Robert Scott (Kilmer) is summoned by certain powerful political insiders (including Ed O'Neill and William H. Macy) to find her -- preferably before the press finds out she's missing.

He and his rookie partner, Curtis (the resourceful Derek Luke), are pretty much supposed to go it alone. Thus, the movie's title, a reference to an edict issued by an ancient king of Sparta who specialized in lean and mean crowd control. Asked for troops to quell an uprising, he replied, "One riot. One man."

They're alone, yes, but not without a great deal of "backstage" support. Parts of the rescue mission are as carefully and cleverly staged as memorable Mamet swindles in "House of Games" and "Wag the Dog" (he co-wrote the screenplay). Plus a mid-movie twist provides an outlet for Mamet's anti-politicians bile and gives the film a second wind.

But there are problems.

Such as, too many borderline-acceptable coincidences. The minute Kilmer says he needs some new clothes for the rescue's next stage, a guy drives up behind him at a gas station and conveniently heads off to the restroom, leaving the car unlocked and a suit jacket hanging in the back seat. And, much like Mamet's 2001 film "Heist," which starred Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito, the third act stumbles; it misses the tingly sting of Mamet at his best.

Kilmer isn't your typical Mamet player; he lacks the compact zip of Macy, a longtime Mamet regular. But his physicality is what the movie needs. Kilmer has a kind of simmering explosiveness that fits both the single-mindedness of his character and the shoot-'em-up scenes the script demands. He's also good at dispensing odd bits of advice to his partner. How to know if you're being followed? "In the city," Kilmer says, "it's always a reflection. In the country, it's always a sound. "

And the desert, Luke asks. "You don't want to go into the desert," Kilmer states with mystic authority.

Essentially, "Spartan" is a popcorn thriller with a dose of smarts. Yes, there are machine guns, helicopters and car chases. But Mamet's inimitable rhythms and his taste for particularized lingo give the action stuff a certain personality. Just as he relished the way the salesmen spoke in "Glengarry" or the con artists in "House of Games," he loves Secret-Service-speak like "a smash and grab" or "We need a stalker on the boyfriend."

Scott is a character who could probably carry a sequel. His expert skills and maverick attitude are the sort of thing on which franchises are built. Given Mamet's penchant for exploring specialized lines of work, Scott could fit into a number of scenarios as an undercover agent.

And, yes, you eventually do learn why you don't want to go into the desert.