Review: Enemy of the State

Will Smith is a hotshot attorney brave enough to take on a sleazy mobster (a well-cast but troubled-looking Tom Sizemore), and still have professional dealings with his ex (Lisa Bonet, still looking like she’s in her Lenny Kravitz phase long after their split), but is otherwise happy to play things safe. When his fellow lawyer wife Regina King angrily complains that a soon-to-be-passed bill will give the NSA unlimited power to spy on whoever or whatever, Smith gently brushes her concerns aside, living blissfully in somewhat apolitical ignorance. Don’t worry, it won’t affect me, right? Or will it? Smith is forced to become less ambivalent/ignorant about things when an incriminating tape (involving the murder of politician Jason Robards Jr., in the film’s opening) is unwittingly attached to him by an old acquaintance (Jason Lee, cast as a mild-mannered birdwatcher!) who saw way too much. Now shady government official Voight is employing his army of young, hi-tech surveillance geeks (including Jamie Kennedy, Jack Black, and Seth Green) and rather buffoonish goons (Scott Caan, Barry Pepper, Jake Busey, and Ian Hart) to find the tape at all costs, and ruin Smith’s life in the process, via lies, distortions and other dirt-digging tactics at their disposal. Uh-oh, looks like Smith’s got some ‘splaining to do when King (with her typical ‘Oh no you di’int!’ facial expression, as I like to call it) finds out he’s been seeing ‘that woman’ again, albeit under fairly innocent circumstances. Smith’s only ally is the cagey, reclusive Brill (Gene Hackman), a former NSA operative acquainted with Bonet, who tries to keep Smith undetected whilst they work out just what the hell is going on here.

 

1998 Tony Scott (“Top Gun” the underrated “Déjà Vu”, and the awful “Man on Fire”) helmed, Jerry Bruckheimer (“Top Gun”, “Beverly Hills Cop”, “Armageddon”) produced techno-thriller is much better than its pedigree might suggest, especially when you throw in relatively unknown screenwriter David Marconi (who wrote the story for the underwhelming “Die Hard 4.0”). The more the years have gone on, the more frighteningly prescient this film looks to have been, and dare I say, it’s rather intelligent for a blockbuster popcorn movie! No longer do we doubt that the Government can tap into our phone calls if it wants to. No longer do many of us doubt that a high ranking official (in the film he’s in cahoots with the NSA) would abuse government powers/authority and spy on whomever they want. We also now have Google Earth, so this film’s notion of satellite technology being able to zoom in and potentially invade our privacy isn’t quite fairytale stuff. I’m not saying I bought absolutely everything thrown at me here as real (the break-and-enter at Smith’s house was a stretch, as was the initial murder), but it certainly is more intelligent and prescient than many people initially gave it credit for. Sure, Tony Scott made very over-the-top films and this is typically hyperactive, but if you see only one Tony Scott film, make it this one. It’s consistently entertaining, with non-stop thrills and all the other hyperbolic but generic statements one usually attributes to these sorts of films. In this case, the words happen to be true, though.

 

Will Smith gives the best performance of his career up to that point (he has since done better work in “Seven Pounds”, “I Am Legend”, and “Concussion”). I can’t say he’s terribly believable as a slick, articulate lawyer, but the Fresh Prince plays ‘decent but flawed family man’ quite well indeed. There’s a particularly amusing scene where he fumbles his way through buying lingerie for his wife that I loved. Gene Hackman and Jon Voight are ideally cast, with Voight basically playing a pre-Patriot Act National Security guy not above a little murder if someone stands in his way. Hackman (playing a character named Brill, the film having several similarities to his role as another Brill in the 70s surveillance flick “The Conversation”) is in angry, taciturn old bastard mode here as the cagey Brill. I hear he can be a bit of a nightmare to directors, but Hackman is terrific in the right role and he is well missed in his retirement. If you ask me, he runs off with the film here, he’s so hostile that he keeps you on edge, worried that he may not be much help to our hero at all.

 

The supporting cast is an effective mixture of up-and-comers (Seth Green, Barry Pepper, and a scene-stealing Jack Black in one of his funniest performances), flavours of the month (Jake Busey, Jamie Kennedy), and solid character actors (The terrific Tom Sizemore, underrated Stuart Wilson as a sleazy politician, and Gabriel Byrne in a mere walk-on that serves as a neat trick), all doing their part to give this one a bit of a lift. This is top-flight entertainment with a little food for thought thrown in, and even a bit of humour (mostly from Voight’s rather glib techno geek minions). It’s a bit of a shame that Scott favours the irritating MTV-style of filmmaking, so it’s a bit over-directed and over-edited. However, when you consider some of his subsequent films, Scott is probably showing comparative restraint here, actually and it doesn’t ruin the film. In fact, to his credit Scott sure does know how to keep a film on the move, even if it’s just a tad too long perhaps. Also, the excess in style does admittedly serve to reinforce the theme that you’re being watched, always. So there’s some sense to it.

 

A classic example of taking something real and turning it up to its biggest extreme for populist entertainment purposes. That’s a compliment. This works wonderfully well, with an exciting music score by Trevor Rabin (“Get Smart”, “Snakes on a Plane”) and Harry Gregson-Williams (“Shrek”, “Cowboys & Aliens”). One of the best conspiracy theory thrillers you’ll ever see.

 

Rating: B+