Review of Enemy of the State (1998) by Moviemastereddy — 02 Apr 2016

Though "Enemy of the State" finds a flimsy excuse for setting one scene amid lingerie models, babes have nothing to do with its notion of sex appeal. Instead, it's the gigahertz that are hot in a thriller that treats technology as its biggest turn-on.

High-tech surveillance ("Enhance, then forward frame by frame!") is at the heart of this latest splashy collaboration between Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer ("Top Gun," "Crimson Tide"), with its premise that privacy is imperiled by runaway electronics. In a week that finds the nation listening to surreptitiously taped Washington telephone calls, who's to say that "Enemy of the State" doesn't have a point?

This much is certain: it has a hurtling pace, nonstop intensity and a stylish, appealing performance by Will Smith in his first real starring role. And although Scott has done popular culture no great favor by pioneering the Simpson-Bruckheimer school of empty but sensation-packed filmmaking, he now looks like a veritable Billy Wilder beside latter-day Top Gunners like Michael ("Armageddon") Bay.

As a grand old man of the thrill-happy genre, Scott gives this film a fine cast, a modicum of wit on the run and a reasonably human dimension. As Gene Hackman, playing an eccentric technology wiz, finally admits about Smith's lawyer-turned-action hero: "Not too stupid after all.".

Smith plays Robert Clayton Dean, an upright and happily married lawyer who winds up, quicker than you can say John Grisham, being targeted, chased and spied on by ruthless forces within the National Security Agency. Needless to say, the "huh?" factor is considerable.

How exactly does Dean go from peace and quiet to a scene in which he must run away from a helicopter, a truck and a train simultaneously? The screenplay by David Marconi seems to be wired with its own self-destruct mechanism, so that it works within the moment but stops making sense the minute you walk out the door.

"Enemy of the State" begins with the murder of a congressman (played by an unbilled Jason Robards) because he opposes a Telecommunications Security and Privacy Act that a certain NSA official (Jon Voight, who modeled his appearance here on Robert McNamara) dearly hopes will pass. But it happens that a nature photographer (Jason Lee, a star of "Chasing Amy") is monitoring geese in the very park where the killing takes place.

The photographer becomes toast as soon as he relays this information to someone else by telephone, since there are no such things as unmonitored phone conversations or camera-free buttonholes in this movie. Incidentally, everyone who makes phone calls here tends to be doing at least one other thing -- fiddling with a keyboard, peering at a monitor screen, watching television -- simultaneously.

And information is gathered and processed with dizzying rapidity. The real world's hourglass icon, the one that indicates a computer is taking its sweet time about something, is nowhere to be seen.

In what passes for crafty plotting here, Dean happens to be buying holiday underwear for his wife (of course it's Christmastime) when the photographer bursts onto the scene and hides a copy of his incriminating evidence in Dean's shopping bag.

Suddenly, a whole nerd squad back at headquarters begins studying the configuration of the bag and then monitoring Dean's every move. His house is fitted with more bugs than there are in children's films this season. There's a sensor in his pants.

A special dedicated satellite, filmed as if this were "Star Wars," is devoted to chasing him. The question of why one little vote in Congress -- or even one little murder, in this cutthroat context -- is enough to set off such techno-frenzy is one more "huh?" along the way.

But Scott comes up with enough snazzy equipment, wild chases and explosive notions (like blowing up the original Dr. Pepper factory in Baltimore) to keep the story moving faster than the speed of scrutiny. And he does use sharp, video-influenced editing more effectively than most (though John Frankenheimer's "Ronin" achieved the same high velocity without benefit of MTV tricks).

The film's juxtapositions, sharp angles, jump cuts and aerial surveillance shots (a la the Gulf war) have a rhythm that suits the material. And Scott avoids touches of overkill, like pumped-up emotional heft or an overlay of musical schmaltz.

In addition, the filmmakers' claims that actual surveillance capabilities go well beyond what is seen here give added interest, not to mention true menace, to much of what is seen.

Making memorable appearances here are Regina King (from "Jerry Maguire") as Dean's sturdy wife; Barry Pepper, Ian Hart and Jake Busey as young thugs on Dean's trail; Lisa Bonet as an ex-girlfriend of Dean's, and Tom Sizemore as a tubby mobster.

Gabriel Byrne appears in a brief, baffling role. The film's horde of foxy screens, transmitters, buttonhole cameras and laptops probably deserve an acting credit of their own.