Purely Joyful Movie!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Will Smith definitely doesn't disappoint the audience. He's extremely talented actor, and he adds his own charm to each character he plays. Of course some might find that annoying, but in the end his charm is what makes even the otherwise unlikable characters sympathetic. I read that Tom Cruise was first considered to play the main character. There are people out there who love Cruise but I personally could not like Robert Dean if played by him. I think I've only seen one movie by Tony Scott before, and that was Domino. In Domino I was annoyed by the overuse of the special effects and weird cinematography. In Enemy of the State Scott's input is clear, but it is definitely easier to follow this one. Sure, weird effects are used, but not all the time, and while some shots are still "artsy" in a way, it doesn't affect the whole movie, just few scenes, during which it's not always easy to even notice. Enemy of the State is an excellent thriller. It's the antagonist that makes you sit on the edge of your seat - NSA has satellites and basically eyes everywhere, how is one person going to outrun all that? I love the use of NSA as the antagonist, since it feels all powerful, and it makes the film still very current. This is one of those movies that make conspiracy theorists wet themselves, yet isn't too far fetched. All the chase scenes are excellently executed, and the feeling of helplessness is extremely thrilling. The only annoying thing is that sometimes the technology doesn't seem believable. Would there really be a surveillance camera in a lingerie shop that would be good enough for someone to almost get a full 360 degree view of the shop? That didn't seem real. Enemy of the state is a marvellous movie. It has clever twists and interesting characters, even if most of them are just plain annoying - all that is saved by Will Smith's charisma, and the main character's family. That way there's at least someone who to root for. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. This is, no doubt, one of the best thrillers out there.

A nightmare-vision of "the surveillance society" provides this political thriller with its sinister backdrop. Spy satellites, hidden cameras and all sorts of high-tech paraphernalia are seen being used by the National Security Agency to routinely monitor and even destroy the lives of the individuals they're watching. Their power and efficiency are awesome but when, as in this story, the staff involved are taking their orders from a top official who's gone rogue, things soon get very threatening.A U.S. Congressman, who's opposed to a new Bill that's designed to make government snooping more extensive, is met at a lakeside location by high-ranking NSA Officer Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight). When Reynolds fails to change the Congressman's voting intentions, one of his operatives kills the politician and makes his sudden death look like an accident. Shortly after, when the authorities arrive on the scene to investigate, a nature photographer is seen removing a videotape from a nearby hide and the NSA immediately swing into action to locate the recording in case it contains any incriminating evidence. Photographer Daniel Leon Zavitz (Jason Lee) soon discovers that his tape contains a full recording of the murder and quickly makes a computer disk copy before going on the run from the NSA agents who are already pursuing him.During the high-speed chase that follows, Zavitz bumps into an old college friend who's doing some Christmas shopping and drops the disk into one of his bags before running away. Successful Washington DC lawyer, Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) doesn't realise that he's now carrying the disk and watches in horror as his old friend's attempt to escape his pursuers ends in his death after he's knocked down by a fire truck. The NSA rapidly realise that Dean probably has the disk and take swift action to hunt him down. In order to discredit him as forcefully as possible, they spread false information that leads to him being fired from his job and his wife being given the impression that he's still in a relationship with one of his ex-girlfriends. Suddenly unemployed and thrown out of his home by his wife, he then discovers that his credit cards have been cancelled and his bank accounts have been frozen.Dean, who doesn't know who he's being chased by or why, remains bewildered until he meets up with a former NSA agent called Edward "Brill" Lyle (Gene Hackman) who'd spent time working for the Agency in Iran during the 1979 revolution. He's an irritable and belligerent man who, having been a recluse for many years, is reluctant to get involved in Dean's problems, but is in reality, the only hope that Dean has of getting himself out of the predicament he's in. After some uncomfortable initial exchanges, Brill explains to Dean exactly what's happening to him before they team up to carry out a series of actions to enable Dean to get his life back on track."Enemy Of The State" hits the ground running and never stops for breath until it reaches its exciting climax. Predictably, for this type of thriller, it's full of well-choreographed chases, well-executed stunts and numerous explosions but also has more substance than the average action movie because of its interesting story and the cautionary nature of what's depicted on-screen. Highly effective editing techniques complement the rapid pace of the action brilliantly and there's a consistent tension that makes it a real edge-of-the-seat movie.The quality of the acting is superb throughout with even the minor roles featuring top-class actors. Will Smith does a great job as an ordinary guy who suddenly finds himself caught up in something he doesn't understand and Gene Hackman and Jon Voight are both excellent in their roles.This movie, which was a great box office success, is exhilarating to watch, visually impressive and simply great entertainment.

For certain aspects in life, there are specific things the average person has no control of. How other individuals interact with each other, how well a piece of operating equipment works or how technology advances itself forward are just a couple of examples. In the current world of today where computers are basically apart of everyone's lives, it's not that difficult for someone to find information on another person. All anyone has to do is go to any search engine whether it be Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask etc. and they'll at least get 2 to 3 webpages about or are connected to them in some way. It's the scary truth, being on the internet is not always the safest place to be. Looking back on Enemy of the State (1998) it seems that director Tony Scott and writer David Marconi have produced a piece of cinema that is an underrated gem that feels more significant now than it ever was the year it was released.The story is about an attorney/family man Robert Dean (Will Smith) being unknowingly jammed into a big government conspiracy about a rouge senator Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight) wanting to pass a bill that'll begin invading the privacy of the US residents. What Dean has that he doesn't know about is a videotape that a suspect hid in his bag that had visual evidence that Reynolds is behind the killing of congressman Hammersley (Jason Robards) who supported individual privacy. The idea of homeland security has always been a controversial topic since the concept was ever brought to fruition and using that as an undercurrent for the script's plot was a thought provoking move on Marconi's part. As stated before with technology being a much bigger proprietor for internet access, the ability to be researched is a lot easier than it was displayed in this movie. Dean ends up being hacked from all directions - his house & mobile phone, home and satellite. Now there's that, the internet, social media and a slew of other devices that make it easy to track someone.Another part about the writing that is effective is how many times Marconi will keep the audience guessing. Every time there's a point where progress occurs, Marconi writes in an event that creates a new roadblock and a new solution plan has to be made. It's clever because most scripts are cut and dry with either one or (maybe) two remedies to a problem. This at least has three or four and its uncommon, which is good because it keeps the viewers guessing. The only component to the writing that doesn't make sense is how a supporting character was able to figure out where the FBI was located. Isn't the FBI supposed to be covert in their operations? It's a little weird that their main office doesn't seem to feel so secret. Other than that, almost every step of execution to this story is woven in such a way that'll have the viewer on the edge of their seat.The acting is well done too. Will Smith as Robert Dean plays his character differently compared to other past roles. Throughout the majority of the running time Smith plays his character like an average family man; humble, respectful, caring and not cocky. Occasionally a small bit of the old-school Will Smith humor arises from the cracks but for the situation he's put into, sarcasm sometimes feels like it was needed. Tagging along side later on is Gene Hackman as Edward Lyle, an ex-NSA agent who knows the inner workings of the system and provides some frightening insight to how things run inside the government. With Hackman being a lot older, he plays it up as a grumpy man when he's hungry and although he's not the nicest sounding, he does care at certain instances. Behind these two are a ton of other cast members consisting of Jason Lee, Scott Caan, Jake Busey, Stuart Wilson, Regina King, Lisa Bonet, Gabriel Byrne, Jack Black, Jamie Kennedy, Larry King, Tom Sizemore and even Seth Green.The cinematography provided by Daniel Mindel had a interesting look to it as well. Since this film involves surveillance of various individuals, the camera will have numerous angles to sit at. That means being hidden cameras in various objects, or among the buildings and street property. Then there's also the satellite tracking cameras that usually fly straight down to the location that's being focused on and then watching what's going on from a bird's eye view. Now obviously, the flying down from space to earth is CGI but after that it looks very real. Mindel later worked on other big budget films like Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009), its sequel and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). The music composed by Trevor Rabin and Harry Gregson-Williams appropriately has the right mix of synthetic and organic sounding orchestra. There are also two main themes, one for the film and another for Hackman's character. They are not that memorable but they do show up more than once and that's good. The action cues aren't as well developed but they do elevate the experience.Besides one plot hole being a bit too noticeable, the rest of the film is fine. The large cast of actors are effective in their roles, the cinematography carries lots of bird's eye view shots, the music is appropriate and the writing has smart context in its narrative.

Crime-Drama-Thrillers has always been my favorite mix of genres and I was very excited to finally get to watch Enemy of the State. Not only because it was a different role for Will Smith but because of the great all around cast. And boy does it have a great cast. It turned out to be nothing too special. I think it's a decent drama for a Saturday or Sunday morning viewing on cable, but I cant say I'm going to willingly watch it again.The cast truly is terrific though. When you have Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Barry Pepper, and even Jack Black all in a movie together you expect greatness. They all give note-worthy performances, but I think the film lacked some focus in this area. At times it tried to give back stories to every one of the characters, even the ones we weren't really suppose to care about. If it were to have focused on only a select few of them, the film would have been more effective. Because of the lack of focus, you end up not really caring for any of the characters.I did really like the premise of the film. It deals with privacy and the effects and impact it has on everyone when it's abused. You begin to question to yourself just how much of our lives are watched and monitored. But I do feel like they could have gone even further with it and made it more personal. The Lives of Others is a much better film based around a similar premise. The film does feel original though. I didn't feel like they were copying any other action film even nearly 20 years after its release. You also definitely feel the 135 minute length. It could have used about a 20 minute trimming job. So with the possible pacing and focus issues the film turns out to be a solid drama, but one that also feels a bit disappointing at the same time.+Original premise +Fascinating privacy concepts +Cast -Pacing and lack of focus issues -Weak supporting characters -Feel the length 6.5/10