Enemy of the State (1998)

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

Director:

Tony Scott

Writer:

David Marconi

Stars:

Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight

5 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Will Smith	...	Robert Clayton Dean
Gene Hackman	...	Edward Lyle
Jon Voight	...	Thomas Brian Reynolds
Lisa Bonet	...	Rachel F. Banks
Regina King	...	Carla Dean
Stuart Wilson	...	Congressman Sam Albert
Laura Cayouette	...	Christa Hawkins
Loren Dean	...	Hicks
Barry Pepper	...	David Pratt
Ian Hart	...	Bingham
Jake Busey	...	Krug
Scott Caan	...	Jones
Jason Lee	...	Daniel Zavitz
Gabriel Byrne	...	Brill
James Le Gros	...	Jerry Miller

Storyline

Robert Dean is a mild-mannered lawyer who works in Washington, D.C. He is on the trail of a kingpin named Pintero. Meanwhile, a politician named Thomas Reynolds is negotiating with Representative Phillip Hammersley about a new surveillance system with satellites. But, Hammersley declines; Reynolds has Hammersley killed, but the murder is caught on tape, and the taper is chased by Reynolds' team of N.S.A. Agents. The guy must ditch the tape, so he plants it on Dean (unbeknownst to Dean). Then, the N.S.A. decides to get into Dean's life. That is when Dean's life began to fall apart all around him, with his wife and job both gone. Dean wants to find out what is going on. Then, he meets a man named "Brill" who tells him that Dean has something that the government wants. Dean and Brill formulate a plan to get Dean's life back and turn the tables on Reynolds.

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Plot Keywords:

on the run | surveillance | political corruption | conspiracy | nsa | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemigo público

Filming Locations:

4809 Boston St, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,038,573, 22 November 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$111,549,836

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$250,649,836

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min 140 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert's wife, Carla, makes reference to the fourth amendment, which is of/to the United States Constitution and part of a group of constitutional amendments known as the United States "Bill of Rights", a moniker carried over from the title of the proposal from which ten (initially and eleven eventually) of 27 amendments were ratified. The fourth amendment prohibits governments and civil authoritative bodies of/within the United States from searching or seizing anybody's person or belongings without reasonable suspicion and probable cause of the person's or the belonging's relevance to a specific crime; also requiring that warrants be detailed. This is related to the boundaries of privacy and is more or less related to privacy concerns in general, especially mass surveillance as a component of United States government's intelligence-gathering apparatus for foreign activity or that of military interest.

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Goofs

After Dean escapes from the smashed Taxi, the scene after in the surveillance van shows the list of all 6 "Active Tracers" that are "functional"(Cell, Pager, Shoe, Watch, Pants, Pen) but in fact the "Shoe" Tracer was flushed down the toilet several scenes prior in the public bathroom by Gabriel Byrne as the fake "Brill".

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

The producers wish to thank the mayor, city council, and citizens of Baltimore, MD.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in an "Unrated Extended Edition" which features some new/extended footage (ca. 7 minutes) like some explicit shots of the senator with his secretary or Dean finding his dead ex-girlfriend covered in blood.

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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Soundtracks

Trigger Hippie
Written by Paul Godfrey, Ross Godfrey and Skye Edwards
Performed by Morcheeba
Courtesy of China Records

User Reviews

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.