Synopsis:

Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a successful labor lawyer based in Washington DC. He has a beautiful wife and adorable son with a nice house located in Georgetown. But things take a turn for the surreal, when a chance encounter with an old friend leaves him evidence of a politically-motivated murder. On the run from a treacherous NSA official and his men, he comes into contact with a former government operative and surveillance expert (Gene Hackman), who is his only way out.

Brian's Rating: A- : We dipped into the collection of DVDs again today and came up with Enemy of the State.  This was one of the early movies I purchased, mostly because it reminded me a bit of the early 90's film, "Sneakers".

The plot of the movie sort of reminds me of "Die Hard", or "The Fugitive".  It is a good action movie that keeps moving and continually has your attention.  It has the popcorn effect--if you eat a single kernel, you almost instinctively go back for the next--in that you always want to watch a few more minutes to see what happens next.  Like Fugitive, the main character is on the run, and while doing so, he is piecing together enough information to get himself out of the mess.  This is a heavily used premise, but still a good one when done well.

The movie has a few plot holes, but the acting is good, the action sequences flow together good, and the story is engaging.  This is the movie the latest Die Hard wanted to be.

The basic story is the inherit danger that could happen if we give control of too much private information to the government, or any other well funded agency for that matter.  I remember seeing this for the first time and thinking that it was good fiction.  Now we know that many of the things portrayed in the movie are actually common practice.  It is kind of scary to see the erosion of the 4th amendment even within the last 10 years.

comment here to add your review!