Movie of the Week: Enemy of the State

Alexa: From the VCRs to the floppy disks to the massive flip phones, many of the technological elements in “Enemy of the State” feel dated. But its central focus – the NSA – is remarkably topical nearly 20 years later. Think about how far the digital world has advanced since this movie’s release. Its central themes of mass surveillance and the line between personal privacy and national security are perhaps more relevant than ever. But it’s also just an entertaining movie in its own right. “Enemy of the State” has all the right ingredients for a captivating suspense piece – political intrigue, ample action, compelling leads and a healthy dose of far-fetched twists and turns, made all the more gripping by its real-world implications. Its greatest weakness lies in its pacing. It could lose about 20 minutes of run time and tell just as complete a story. But overall it’s an enjoyable ride, and certainly worth revisiting as a springboard for discussion in the post-Snowden era.

Joel: I wish that I had seen this movie twenty years ago when it first came out to be able to compare a reaction from that time to a reaction today. All of the “giant conspiracy” aspects of the movie that I’m sure were a stretch to believe in the initial release of the movie, barely faze you now. You  get several instances where one character is telling another character just how pervasive government surveillance is and the movie treats it like a big reveal each time. Now, however, each big reveal just kind of seems par for the course to what we hear every few months when this story comes back into the news.

Still, it manages to be a rather entertaining thriller. This came out in the time period where Will Smith was really cementing his movie star status, and Gene Hackman is able to present himself as a main character, despite not really showing up for the first forty-five minutes of the movie.

The movie could have been about twenty minutes shorted without losing any of the excitement or thrill that it offered, but the extended run time isn't off putting.

In this age of remake and reboot happy Hollywood, this is a movie that cries out for an update. I would love to see a take on this material with the new information that we have today, but still with the thriller feel that this movie brings to the table

Chris: I fully subscribe to the theory that Enemy of the State is actually a sequel to The Conversation from 1974. Gene Hackman’s characters in both movies are just too eerily similar and would absolutely operate under a different name and they even used a picture of him from that movie in Enemy of the State when they’re trying to identify Hackman’s identity. Also, the courtyard scene in Enemy of the State where Will Smith is under surveillance is incredibly similar to a scene in The Conversation that serves as the crux of the entire movie. Beyond that, the movie made me sad that Tony Scott is no longer with us. Scott’s films weren’t exactly complex but they grabbed my attention back when I was in high school and ultimately made me take my obsession with film to a whole different level. I will say this, as a lifelong Tony Scott fan, even I was a little confused about how much that guy liked trains. Enemy of the State isn’t exactly a movie that comes up much when talking about the massive superstardom of Will Smith but I would argue that it was an important stepping stone that showed off his depth. And yes, we can all agree that the tech language of this movie is laughable at best but what a supporting cast.

Jason: Will Smith has made some interesting choices throughout his career. (I’m lookin at you, Sharktale and Wild Wild West.) This movie falls right between ID4 and the aforementioned WWW and is truly a breakout role for Smith as a serious actor. He got to throw around a few adlibed comedic lines here and there but overall, the tone of this film is as stonefaced as his costars Gene Hackman and Jon Voight. As poignant as the statement about personal privacy and omnipresent uber surveillance is, I laughed any time the NSA did anything technical. My favorite is where they rotated the camera angle 90 degrees around from a single store security camera, zoomed and enhanced, and then made a live 3-D rendering of the shopping bag! That kind of tech is impossible by today’s standards and this movie is set two decades ago! I’m not saying the government does not have hyper advanced technology to keep us all in line, I’m just saying that this movie’s version is silly. Made me think I was watching CSI or NCIS.

Two unrelated things: did anyone else catch that Reynolds’ birthday was September 11 three years before that date was significant? Coincidence? 911wasaninsidejob And secondly, why did Seth Green not get a screen credit for this role? I mean, he had as much screentime as Jack Black and nearly as many lines. Come on, guys. It’s tacky to leave people out.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. It kept me guessing as to how Dean was going to escape, let alone survive being hunted by the government. And that finale! Talk about two birds with one stone! Good build and release. This was a much needed breath of fresh air after last week’s fiasco.