Enemy of the State 1998 Spy-Thriller Film
Directed by Tony Scott and Starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman
Sep 12, 2009
The government is about to pass a bill that gives certain agencies the capability to monitor everyone and everything, but what happens if an agency were to use that power to hunt an innocent man? Will Smith and Gene Hackman are in fine form as they struggle to stay one step ahead of the authorities
Enemy of the State's Plot and Characters
Will Smith is labour lawyer named Robert Clayton Dean, who hired a man named Brill to film mafia leader Pintero (Tom Sizemore) consorting with union officials, something which violates his parole. Pintero agrees to back off Dean’s clients but threatens to kill Dean if he does not reveal who made the tape within a week.
Later, whilst shopping, Dean bumps into an old friend Daniel Zavitz (Jason Lee) who (unknown to Dean) passes him a digital recording of government officer Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight) killing Congressman Phil Hammersly (Jason Robards) for trying to halt a bill Reynolds is pushing through congress. It seems that Hammersly believes that the bill is an invasion of privacy. Reynolds’ people attempt to get the tape back, but Dean’s paranoia about Pintero makes his reluctance to allow them into his home suspicious.
After smearing Dean’s reputation and alienating him from his family Dean is forced to run and seek out the only man that can help him, Brill (Gene Hackman). With Brill’s help Dean realises the full extent of what the bill could mean and the limitless power it would give those in authority over the public.
Dean recognises how much trouble he is in and how the government are tracking him. Together the two come up with a risky plan to clear Dean's name.
“It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you”
Enemy of the State has one of the best taglines in cinema history, and really sums up the intense atmosphere of the film. Smith is an excellent actor and believably plays a character who genuinely has no idea why he is suddenly being hunted by the government. Gene Hackman is always reliable and is excellent as Smith’s gruff and reluctant ally.
Director Tony Scott manages to keep the tension at breaking point. Brill describes some of the means the government have of monitoring the public, one of these includes a voice recognition programme which records a person’s telephone conversation if they say any one of a hundred flagged words (like ‘bomb’). It is scary to think that the government potentially has the ability to take a person’s life apart and Enemy of the State shows what could happen if that power is in the wrong hands.
The action sequences are impressive and the tension builds as the government officials close in on Dean and Brill.
Enemy of the State is a film that would fuel the conspiracy theorists. Scott shows that the government can be dangerously powerful and if the bill Reynolds’ is hoping to pass actually is then things for people like Dean are only going to get worse. In a world in which Big Brother seems to always be watching it is a delight to see a film that takes the idea to an extreme and asks the question ‘if everyone is being watched, then who watches the watchers?’
One of the most nail biting sequences involve Dean’s escape from a hotel suite and the government officials closing in as he flees through a tunnel
All in all Enemy of the State is a film that also make the audience think. Fans of Will Smith and Gene Hackman will not be disappointed as the two leads work well together. It was the prospect of working with Hackman that provoked Smith to accept the role. The supporting cast is also made up of some of Hollywood's elite actors.
7/10
Conspiracy theorists will enjoy the ‘evil government official tracking down an innocent man’ premise. But Enemy of the State is a solid spy-thriller that will appear to any and all fans of the genre or Smith and Hackman.
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