...a respectable action adventure...the film remains a taut, fast-paced thriller.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Did you ever have the feeling someone was watching you? The atmosphere of paranoia is rampant in "Enemy of the State" as it takes this notion to the extreme. It's a high-tech, high-energy version of "The Wrong Man" or "North By Northwest" for the present day, although it contains little of the subtlety or grace of Hitchcock's films. However, "Enemy of the State" is even more topical and timely now than when it was released in 1998, given its questions and concerns about the government's right to spy on its own citizenry and compromise the public's right to privacy. Then as now, the government insists that its spying is in the interests of national security and that it has nothing but the public's welfare in mind.
Despite these pressing issues, the moviemakers soon lose interest in the philosophical dilemma of government surveillance and quickly begin exaggerating the plot action well out of proportion to the ethical questions involved. In other words, the movie takes the serious issue of Big Brother monitoring us and turns it into typical Hollywood hokum. Yet, as standard conspiracy films go, this one is a cut above the rest thanks to the nonstop forward thrust provided by director Tony Scott ("Top Gun," "Crimson Tide," "Man on Fire"). "Enemy of the State" is a respectable action adventure, and despite (or because of) about eight more minutes added to an already lengthy story line in this new Unrated Extended Edition, the film remains a taut, fast-paced thriller.
Will Smith stars as a Washington attorney, Robert Clayton Dean, a fellow who inadvertently gets passed a video that the National Security Agency wants very badly. Why? Because the tape confirms that the NSA had a hand in the murder of a U.S. senator. With every possible surveillance gadget at their disposal, the Agency goes after Dean with a vengeance, planting bugs all over his house, his clothes, and his possessions, and the Agency begins to track his every move with cameras, microphones, and satellites in an effort to get the tape back. Before long, the Agency team has Dean's wife convinced that her husband is unfaithful, they've canceled his credit cards, lost him his job, and discredited his life. By then everyone is after him. The question, then, is when Dean is going to catch on and begin to fight back.
His only assistance comes from a former Agency employee, Brill, long since gone underground, played by Gene Hackman (shades of "The Conversation"). Together, Dean and Brill try to get back at the Agency that is so intent on continuing its cutthroat ways. There is also a subplot about Dean's involvement with the Mob that seems irrelevant at first but ties in neatly, if too coincidentally, at the end.
I have only the highest regard for Will Smith; he is among the most likable stars around. But he brings some audience preconceptions with him that are hard to shake. He is known mainly for comedy and for his roles in sci-fi fantasy films like "Independence Day," "Men in Black," "Wild, Wild West," and "I, Robot." Admittedly, "Enemy of the State" is close to fantasy, yet it takes itself somewhat more seriously, and it's hard to find Smith's character entirely plausible. Maybe Harrison Ford or Denzel Washington could have pulled it off, but even Mel Gibson had trouble of a similar kind in "Conspiracy Theory." As a result, Smith approaches the role in a light and charming manner, in the Cary Grant mold; at no point in the movie do we actually fear for his character's safety. Occasionally, Smith's Dean is brilliant and resourceful, more than a match for the evil Agency characters pursuing him. At other times he behaves foolishly; like knowing full well that the Agency has everything bugged, he calls his wife, anyway, giving away his location for the sake of the plot. The main thing, though, is that Smith never fails to hold one's attention.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]18308[/release]