Enemy of the State (1998) - Movie Review

We live in a high-tech world, where computers, televisions, video cameras, and so on control every aspect of our lives. Satellites orbit the earth and the smallest microchip can run an entire business. Without these items, we could live, but we would live in a world set back almost a century, and our lives would be severely different. Without televisions and phones, news would take forever to travel from one side of the country to the other. Several forms of entertainment would be obsolete and our ability to make things would be limited. Enemy of the State takes our ability to manipulate technology to the extreme, and shows what could happen if that technology were used for evil, instead of good.

Frankly, Enemy of the State was a very well-done movie. Though the opening sequence where the Senator was killed was a little subtle, the opening credits were sensational and so was the rest of the movie. Jon Voight, who has played bad guys for the majority of his films lately (Anaconda, Mission: Impossible), does not disappoint, although he is hardly seen throughout the entirety. Gene Hackman fit perfectly for the role of Brill, the ex-NSA agent, and provided both storyline and comedy for the movie. Will Smith was no longer a continuous comedian, as he was in ID4, Bad Boys, and of course, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," though he did manage to fit in some good wisecracks and other funny activities. Overall, however, his character was serious and believable. The supporting cast was also a strong suit in the success of Enemy of the State; all the actors were good and realistic the whole way through.

Enemy of the State, after the fact, reminded me somewhat of The Net, only on a much grander scale. Will Smith, just like Sandra Bullock, had something an organization wanted, and, using high-tech equipment, turned him into a fugitive. However, while The Net dealt with a few small conspirators, Enemy of the State is based around a government agent, and their ability to track somebody is just astounding.

The only disappointment was the conclusion. While the whole movie had Will Smith running from the NSA, it only took a few minutes once he was captured to end the movie. He didn't really have much to do with the ending, either, and the downfall of Voight was neither political nor mesmerizing. Everything about it was cheesy, and there is no way a government agency could be brought down just by a few Mafia thugs.

Enemy of the State was nevertheless a sensational movie, even if the ending left little to be desired for, and people of all ages would get a kick out of it. Don't let the R rating scare you parents; the movie is basically harmless, only containing one or two brutal scenes and some swearing.

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