ENEMY OF THE STATE Reviewed by Luke Buckmaster
Cast: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Regina King, Lisa Bonet, Loren Dean, Ian Hart, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper, Jason Lee, Gabriel Byrne, Tom Sizemore Director: Tony Scott Screenplay: David Marconi Australian theatrical release: January 7, 1999
On the Buckmaster scale of 0 stars (bomb), to 5 stars (a masterpiece): 4 stars
It is always a good sign that a thriller is working when you start to believe that anything happening on the screen is something that could happen to you. Achieving this much is not an easy task for anyone, so you can imagine my surprise when Tony "Top Gun" Scott, Will Smith and a writer with only one previous film under his belt managed to pull it off. Not only that, but they've also done a darn good job. Scott's tense direction of David Marconi's paranoid and upbeat screenplay gives the film structure, whilst a bunch of strong performances from a talented cast give it character.
In fact, I found it amazing that Scott was able to make his three lead actors - Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight - work so well. Smith tackles an out of character "serious" role and finds stable ground as the film's anchor. Although Hackman is rarely powerful, his work in Enemy of the State is not to be underestimated. And as for Jon Voight, he is finally back to the standard he set in Mission Impossible, once again reprising his role as everybody's least popular character (the smug villain).
A mob goon gives Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) a tricky choice: fork over some valuable information or get killed before the week's end. You can understand why this threat soon becomes the least of Dean's worries after he finds himself unwittingly involved in something a little more serious - a national conspiracy involving the work of shady NSA (National Security Association) bureaucrat Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight). Reynolds is not your typical bad guy as he has a team of computer geeks ready to do his dirty work for him, using the latest in computer technology to hunt down and monitor anybody they please. Everything soon gets a little too much for Dean, as he begins to lose his loved ones and eventually gets framed for murder. Luckily for him, he stumbles across a technological expert known as "Brill" (Gene Hackman), and they eventually form an unlikely friendship as they try to escape the inevitable showdown with Reynolds.
No doubt this is Brian De Palma and David Fincher territory. Although Scott can't find as much intrigue or suspense with his material as Fincher did in The Game, he packs a lot of excitement into action sequences. There are two lengthy chase scenes that hold viewers' attention for so long that watching them becomes uncomfortable. The first of these scenes sets a high standard for the rest of the film, and features Chasing Amy's Jason Lee on the run from NSA goons. Cinematographer Daniel Mindel captures the intensity of these moments with deliberately computerized visuals. When the "satellite cam" is activated, he gives a refreshing new view of what is going on, and reminds us of how big the characters are in comparison to the massive modern world surrounding them.
With a running time of 140 minutes, it must be said that Enemy of the State is not a good example of efficiency. Will Smith's character is casually developed for quite a lengthy amount of time before he finds himself in extraordinary situations. That is an interesting choice, because many directors prefer to develop their characters when they are placed outside of their comfortable environs (like in 1997's very clever Breakdown, and Oliver Stone's U-Turn). However Smith works well and so does his character, and even cynics have to admire the way he has successfully ditched his trademark supporting characters - aliens and motor-mouth cops (at least for the time being). In the transformation, Smith has lost none of his charm, and now gives authenticity to his presence.
If I could edit out any part of Enemy of the State, I'd get rid of its prologue. In this dreary opening scene, we are shown exactly what the NSA will go to all lengths to protect. Had Tony Scott revealed it to us bit by bit, Enemy of the State might have become just that little bit more clever.
But cleverness really isn't a problem when you take into account all that Enemy of the State achieves. Faults in the story and exaggerated scenarios can be excused, since this film accomplishes the difficult task of yielding an atmospheric, paranoid and thrilling version of our modern world. And even more impressive than that, Tony Scott makes every inch of it believable.
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