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People tend to say that I'm paranoid; with films like Enemy Of The State I guess I have a reason to be. The conspiracy theories about NSA violations were by no means a new topic when this film was released back in 1998, but they were certainly portrayed in a very gripping and entertaining manner -- the reason why they've been on my mind ever since.

Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a Washington attorney who gets passed a video tape revealing the murder of a U.S. senator, which the NSA are desperate to retrieve in order to cover their tracks. Using a host of fascinating surveillance gadgets, they do everything within their power to get inside Dean's life and locate the whereabouts of this tape. They plant tracker bugs in his clothes, listen into his conversations with microphones, and track his every move via satellites in space.

The technology showcased in the film never goes quite to the extreme that it is completely unbelievable. Everything is done with a sense of realism, in a deliberate attempt to make us think "Are we really being watched?," "Does the government have a right to invade our privacy if they think we're criminals?", and "Should we really fear for our own safety?"

Enemy Of The State manages to evoke questions within the viewer's mind and be entertaining at the same time. In a particularly memorable scene, the NSA is in pursuit of Dean at a nearby hotel. After discovering he has various tracking devices planted on him, Dean decides he must strip down to his underwear and jump from balcony to balcony in order to escape; he soon ends up in an underground passageway with a police gun and several agents on his tail, fearing for his life and wondering how the hell he got into this mess.

Smith is great as he brings an element of fun to the whole conspiracy theory regarding the government constantly watching over our lives. He is the typical nice guy, making subtle jokes, with no real idea about the capabilities of the shadow government. He still has his trademark Fresh Prince charm, but with an added maturity that you can respect (many critics would recognise this as a trait of his natural acting abilities at the time of the film's release).

Gene Hackman is just as fascinating as Brill, the former Agency employee, who uses his knowledge to assist Dean along the way; forming a partnership with Dean, the two eventually fight back against the people that are chasing them. Jon Voight also impresses as intimidating head of the NSA; while Tom Sizemore is quite charismatic as the mafia member.

Despite being overlong (the running time is almost two-and-a-half hours), director Tony Scott generally keeps things quickly paced, easy on the eye and fascinatingly clever in creating a level of paranoia; thus, Enemy Of The State is an overall must see for action junkies and curious individuals. 

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.