Enemy of the State (1998)

Director:

Tony Scott

Writer (WGA):

David Marconi (written by)

Release Date:

20 November 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

It's not paranoia if they're really after you.

Plot:

A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.

Plot Keywords:

NSA | Murder | Evidence | Surveillance | Washington D.C.

Awards:

5 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Will Smith	...	Robert Clayton Dean
Gene Hackman	...	Edward Lyle, 'Brill'
Jon Voight	...	Reynolds
Lisa Bonet	...	Rachel Banks
Regina King	...	Carla Dean
Stuart Wilson	...	Congressman Albert
Laura Cayouette	...	Christa Hawkins
Loren Dean	...	Hicks
Barry Pepper	...	Pratt
Ian Hart	...	Bingham
Jake Busey	...	Krug
Scott Caan	...	Jones
Jason Lee	...	Zavitz
Gabriel Byrne	...	NSA agent, 'Brill'
James LeGros	...	Jerry Miller (as James Le Gros)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and violence.

Runtime:

132 min | USA:140 min (extended version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36342) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Ontario) (video rating) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | South Korea:15 | Canada:AA (Ontario) (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:12 (re-rating) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | New Zealand:M | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Italy:T | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The Ruby lingerie store is actually the doctored store front of Lambda Rising, a well-known gay bookstore on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): A character called the birds being taped Canadian Geese, but they are actually Canada Geese - a common mistake.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Congressman Phillip Hammersley: Come on. Come on, mutt. Now, look at that ball. All right. Come on, get that ball. Ah!

Movie Connections:

References True Romance (1993)

Soundtrack:

O Come All Ye Faithful

Interesting plot, will make you wonder who's watching you!

Jon Voight, Will Smith, and Gene Hackman are the three stars who make this movie interesting. Voight is a rogue NSA operative and Smith quite accidentally gets on his trail without even realizing it. Hackman provides the key to exposing the crooks and facilitating a reasonable ending. Watching this movie makes you wonder how much of the surveillance depicted can really be done today by our governments. Although the movie has its share of violence, and an ending out of Reservoir Dogs, it also is sprinkled with some good humor. If you like action and espionage, then you'll like this movie. The DVD picture and soundtrack are both excellent. I give the movie overall 8 of 10.