Enemy of the State

[baumer]

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Edited September 10, 2012 by Expendable baumer

[baumer]

Conspiracy theorists who enjoy films like JFK and Conspiracy Theory will have a lot to enjoy with Enemy of the State. For a film that came out almost 10 years ago, it seems just slightly ahead its time. I don't remember everything about 1998, but I do know that things like DVD was in it's nascent stages and although the internet has been part of our vernacular for almost 20 years now, the technology prevalent back in 98 as opposed to now is light years apart. And in the post 911 days, having the idea of our privacy abolished is pretty much upon us. Maybe not to the extent perpetuated in this film, but we are pretty much under Big Brother's watchful eye all the time. When you walk into a bank, a restaurant, a convenience store or any public place, you are photographed and recorded and your image can be recalled with a simple enough click of a button. Even today when you call places like phone company's or pizza parlours you hear a recorded message that says this call may be recorded for quality purposes. We are being watched and kept tabs on everywhere we go and in everything we do. In this vein, Enemy of the State is a marvel. It is a film way ahead of it's time. No one could foresee the tragedy of 911, but now that it is part of our history books, films like The Siege and this one are that much more clairvoyant.Will Smith plays a Washington attorney whose life is turned inside out when he is given a disc that has a political murder on it. He doesn't know that it does and when an unsanctioned government spook squad comes after him, he is confused and out of his element. Gene Hackman plays Brill, who might as well be an older version of Harry Cauld, his character from Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 film The Conversation. He is a communications expert that has basically gone mercenary and no longer does the dirty work for the CIA and other seedy government factions. Smith needs his help attempting to understand what it all means and how he got entangled in this imbroglio. While Smith is the star of the film, it is clearly Hackman that steals the show with his vernacular and expertise on the subject.The film is also blessed with so many bit players that are now either famous or semi famous that it's like watching a Robert Altman film such as The Player. There are that many famous faces in here. Barry Pepper, Jake Busey, Jack Black, Jaime Kennedy, Jason Lee, Gabriele Byrne, Tom Sizemore and Jason Robards all show up in the film in supporting roles. Add to that the incomparable Jon Voight and you have one hell of a cast.Enemy of the State moves at a break neck pace. It is directed with a kinetic urgency and Tony Scott shows us why he is one of the best in the business with his style. I can't imagine many haven't seen this, but for those that haven't, it is definitely one of Jerry Bruckheimer's best. And that is saying something.9/10

[Ozymandias]

One of Tony Scott's best IMO. I love this movie.

[JackO]

My first rated R movie. It gets an auto A for that.

[BK007]

I saw this for the first time last year. I was blown away. It doesn't get much better than this if you're looking for intelligent, entertaining thrillers. It's ahead of its time and holds up incredibly well (assume so, since I saw it 13 years after release) and still crushes 99% of the last decade's attempts at the same story.

[darkelf]

Yeah, some of the technology in this movie doesn't even exist today (or so they say) and most of the female characters are less than one-dimensional but this is a genuinely intriguing movie. So much ahead of its time when it comes to privacy and security issues that have only become worse until today and that they are still trying to sweep under the rug and I sure like my movies smart like that. Plus, there's Smith at the top of his game delivering his humor and I liked how the NSA goons seemed like real characters, each one with his own personality, you don't get that much often in movies. Tony Scott shows once again that he was the master of this genre and managed to craft a very suspenseful thriller even with some script weaknesses (tech inconsistencies, plot conveniences but who care anyway?).

 

8/10

[baumer]

"Do you jerk off in the shower?"