Enemy of the State

Plot

A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.

Release Year: 1998

Rating: 7.2/10 (94,049 voted)

Critic's Score: 67/100

Director:
Tony Scott

Stars: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight

Storyline
Robert dean is a mild-mannered lawyer who works in Washington D.C. He is on the trail of a kingpin named Pintero. Meanwhile, a politician named Thomas Reynolds is negotiating with Congressman Phillip Hammersley about a new surveillance system with satellites. But, Hammersley declines, that is when Reynolds had Hammersley killed, but this murder was caught on tape, and this person was being chased by Reynolds' team of NSA agents, the guy must ditch the tape, so he plants it on Dean (unbeknownst to Dean). Then, the NSA decides to get into Dean's life. That is when Dean's life began to fall apart all around him, with his wife and job both gone. Dean wants to find out what is going on. Then, he meets a man named "Brill" who tells him that Dean has something that the government wants. That is when Dean and Brill formulate a plan to get Dean's life back and turn the Tables on Reynolds.

Cast:

Will Smith
–

Robert Clayton Dean

Gene Hackman
–

Edward Lyle

Jon Voight
–

Thomas Brian Reynolds

Lisa Bonet
–

Rachel F. Banks

Regina King
–

Carla Dean

Stuart Wilson
–

Congressman Sam Albert

Laura Cayouette
–

Christa Hawkins

Loren Dean
–

Hicks

Barry Pepper
–

David Pratt

Ian Hart
–

Bingham

Jake Busey
–

Krug

Scott Caan
–

Jones

Jason Lee
–

Daniel Zavitz

Gabriel Byrne
–

Brill

James LeGros
–

Jerry Miller

(as James Le Gros)

Taglines:
It's not paranoia if they're really after you.

Release Date: 20 November 1998

Filming Locations: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $90,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $20,038,573
(USA)
(22 November 1998)
(2393 Screens)

Gross: $111,544,445
(USA)
(18 April 1999)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min
 |
USA: 140 min
(extended version)

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The film's technical advisor, Larry Cox, is a former National Security Agency official.

Goofs:

Continuity:
At the end of the film when Dean realizes Brill has placed a camera in his house, he waves his hand at the camera as he looks at himself on his television. The camera angle we see on his TV is straight on as though the camera were on top of the TV, yet, alternately, we see a camera angle from what looks to be the ceiling as Deal looks up at it.

Quotes:

[first lines]

Congressman Phillip Hammersley:
Come on. Come on, mutt. Now, look at that ball. All right. Come on, get that ball. Ah!

User Review

Crackerjack Thriller with a message…

Rating: 8/10

Why? Well for starters there is the best chase sequence since The French
Connection. Then there is Will Smith as an actor – not just a star,
though
later in the movie he is admittedly overshadowed by veteran Gene
Hackman.

There are two layers to this movie: On the surface is a pacy thriller
with
edge-of-the-seat chases but underneath lies a telling commentary on
government surveillance. It is one of those truth-in-fiction stories
which
makes its point about government intrusion into privacy dramatically and
effectively.

There are references to the classic, The Conversation: The surveilled
couple
talking in the park, and the Hackman character's premises are an obvious
recreation of his workshop in the earlier movie. If you haven't yet seen
The Conversation – see it before you see this one – you will understand
the
Hackman character a lot better (besides, it is a superb movie in its own
right).

Oh, and Jon Voight is terrific as the bad guy…