Enemy of the State (1998)

A lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a 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 Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a mild-mannered lawyer who works in Washington, D.C. He is on the trail of a kingpin named Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore). Meanwhile, a politician named Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight) is negotiating with Representative Phillip Hammersley (Jason Robards, Jr.) 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" (Gene Hackman), 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.

---

Plot Keywords:

on the run | conspiracy | nsa | surveillance | national security agency | 

---

Taglines:

In God we trust. The rest we monitor.

---

Genres:

Action | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Will Smith turned down a role in another conspiracy thriller, Snake Eyes (1998), to star in this movie.

---

Goofs

Brill's home (the jar) has no electrical means of transmission into or out of it. Yet he hacks into the NSA to run facial recognition on John Voight and it's happening at speeds not available in 1998. His outdoor security cameras had to be running on a direct connection also.

---

Quotes

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

---

Crazy Credits

The CNN journalist is a fictitious character.

---

Alternate Versions

In the "Unrated Extended Version", the rogue NSA agents are shown hacking into Dean's office computer.

---

Connections

Referenced in Video Buck: Las carátulas más mierdosas Vol. 6 - "Welcome To Ghana" parte 3 (2019)

---

Soundtracks

Guilty
Written by Lennox Brown

User Reviews

Excellent action/thriller!

Love this Tony Scott conspiracy theory film! Glad I own Enemy of the state, it's exhilarating and has a great cast! Thought provoking types are my jam lots of ins and outs involved. FBI tracking people is always intriguing in movies especially in the vein of Tony Scott; he's done a lot of wildly entertaining projects. Extortion scheme thats a unique way to describe part of the story. I absolutely love in this Gene Hackman he's legendary - all around awesome would recommend to anyone!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemy of the State

Filming Locations:

4809 Boston St, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,038,573, 22 November 1998

Gross USA:

$111,549,836

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$250,849,789

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

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1