Enemy of the State (film)

Enemy of the State
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tony Scott
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by	David Marconi Aaron Sorkin (Uncredited)
Starring	Will Smith Gene Hackman Jon Voight Lisa Bonet Regina King Jack Black
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Daniel Mindel
Editing by	Chris Lebenzon
Studio	Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	United States: 20 November 1998 United Kingdom: 26 December 1998 Australia: 7 January 1999
Running time	131 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$90,000,000
Box office	$250,649,836

Enemy of the State is a 1998 spy-thriller film about a group of rogue NSA agents who kill a US Congressman and try to cover up the murder. It was written by David Marconi, directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and it stars Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet and Regina King.

The film grossed over $250,000,000 worldwide ($111,549,836 within the USA).

Plot

As a U.S. senator moves to pass new legislation that dramatically expands the surveillance powers of law enforcement agencies, Congressman Phil Hammersley (Jason Robards, uncredited) remains firmly opposed to its passage. To ensure the bill's passage, National Security Agency official Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight) kills Hammersley, but he is unaware of a video camera set up in a duck blind by wildlife researcher Daniel Zavitz (Jason Lee) that has captured the entire incident. Zavitz discovers the murder, and alerts an underground journalist, at the same time transferring the video to an innocuous computer disc. Reynolds learns of Zavitz's footage, and sends a team from the National Security Agency to recover the video by any means necessary. While fleeing the agents Zavitz runs into a store where an old college friend, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith), is shopping. Zavitz secretly passes the computer disc into Dean's shopping bag. Zavitz continues fleeing and is killed when hit by a vehicle moving in the opposite direction. Reynolds soon has the underground journalist that Zavitz alerted, killed to cover any tracks.

When the NSA discovers that Dean may have the video, a special team raids his house and plants surveillance devices. Unable to find the video, the NSA proceeds to falsely incriminate Dean of passing classified information to Rachel Banks (Lisa Bonet), a former girlfriend. The subterfuge destroys Dean's life: In one day, he is fired from his job, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife (Regina King) throws him out of the house. Dean, trailed by the NSA, meets with Banks, who offers to set up a meeting with "Brill", one of her secret contacts. After meeting an NSA agent posing as Brill (Gabriel Byrne), Dean realizes his error, only to have the real Brill, retired NSA agent Edward Lyle (Gene Hackman), ferry him to temporary safety, helping rid Dean of all the tracking devices he is unwittingly carrying. With Dean and Lyle in hiding, the NSA agents kill Banks and frame Dean for the murder. While Lyle is able to find evidence that the NSA executed the murder, it is destroyed during a frantic escape from an NSA raid.

It is then revealed that Lyle was an expert in communications for the NSA. He was stationed in Iran before the Iranian Revolution. When the revolution occurred, the Iranians they had been working with turned on them; Lyle made it out of the country, but his partner, Rachel's father, was killed. Since then he has been in hiding. Lyle tries to coax Dean in trying to run away, but Dean is adamant, saying that he knows what it was like to be without a father and he isn't willing to let his wife and son go through the same experience.

Dean and Lyle blackmail another supporter of the surveillance bill, Congressman Sam Albert (Stuart Wilson) by videotaping him having an affair with his aide. Dean and Lyle "hide" bugs that Reynolds used on Dean in Albert's room so Albert will find them and have the NSA start an investigation. They bug Reynolds' house with video cameras, which is discovered by his daughter saying she's on TV, which makes him aware of the camera. Lyle also deposits $140,000 into Reynolds' bank account to make it appear that he's taking bribes.

Lyle contacts Reynolds to tell him that he has the video of the Hammersley murder and asks to meet. Dean and Lyle are captured by Reynolds and the NSA before the meeting. Dean tells them that the Hammersley murder footage is in the hands of Mafia boss Joey Pintero (Tom Sizemore, uncredited), whom he had been trying to prosecute and whose headquarters are under FBI surveillance. Dean, Reynolds and the NSA team head into Pintero's restaurant, precipitating a Mexican standoff and eventually a full-fledged gunfight that kills all the mobsters, Reynolds, and several of his NSA team.

Dean and Lyle escape, with Lyle quickly disappearing from the authorities. The FBI discovers the plot behind the legislation, causing it to fail to gain passage, though they cover up the NSA's involvement. Dean is cleared of all charges and is reunited with his wife. Lyle escapes to a tropical location, but sends a friendly 'goodbye' message to Dean by bugging his television set.

Cast

• Will Smith as Robert Clayton Dean
• Gene Hackman as Edward 'Brill' Lyle
• Jon Voight as Thomas Brian Reynolds
• Barry Pepper as David Pratt
• Regina King as Carla Dean
• Ian Hart as John Bingham
• Lisa Bonet as Rachel F. Banks
• Jascha Washington as Eric Dean
• James LeGros as Jerry Miller
• Jake Busey as Krug
• Scott Caan as Jones
• Jamie Kennedy as Jamie Williams
• Jason Lee as Daniel Leon Zavitz
• Gabriel Byrne as Fake Brill
• Stuart Wilson as Congressman Sam Albert
• Jack Black as Fiedler
• Anna Gunn as Emily Reynolds
• Laura Cayouette as Christa Hawkins
• Loren Dean as Loren Hicks
• Bodhi Elfman as Van
• Dan Butler as NSA Director Admiral Shaffer
• Seth Green as Selby (Uncredited)
• Tom Sizemore as Boss Paulie Pintero (Uncredited)
• Jason Robards as Congressman Phil Hammersley (Uncredited)
• Philip Baker Hall as Attorney Mark Silverberg (Uncredited)
• Brian Markinson as Attorney Brian Blake (Uncredited)
• Larry King as Himself (Uncredited)
• Ivana Miličević as Ruby's Sales Clerk

Production

Although the story is set in both Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, most of the filming was done in Baltimore.

Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise were considered for the part that went to Will Smith, who took the role largely because he wanted to work with Gene Hackman and had previously enjoyed working with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on Bad Boys. George Clooney was also considered for a role in the film. Sean Connery was considered for the role that went to Hackman. The film's crew included a technical surveillance counter-measures consultant who also had a minor role as a spy shop merchant.

Reception

Enemy of the State was moderately well-received by critics. Rotten Tomatoes presented a 70% "Fresh" rating for the movie, with 57 critics approving of the movie and 24 noting the film as "Rotten;" similar results could be found at the website Metacritic, which displayed a normalized ranking of 67 out of 100 on the basis of the views of 22 critics. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times expressed enjoyment in the movie, noting how its "pizazz [overcame] occasional lapses in moment-to-moment plausibility;" Janet Maslin of the New York Times approved of the film's action-packed sequences, but cited how it was similar in manner to the rest of the members of "Simpson's and Bruckheimer's school of empty but sensation-packed filming." In a combination of the two's views, Edvins Beitiks of the San Francisco Examiner praised many of the movie's development aspects, but criticized the overall concept that drove the film from the beginning — the efficiency of government intelligence — as unrealistic.

Box office

The film opened at #2, behind The Rugrats Movie, grossing $20,038,573 over its first weekend in 2,393 theatres and averaging about $8,374 per venue.

Real life

An episode of PBS' Nova titled "Spy Factory" reports that the film's portrayal of the NSA's capabilities are fiction: although the agency can intercept transmissions, connecting the dots is difficult.

See also

• List of American films of 1998
• Conspiracy thriller
• The Conversation

External links

• Enemy of the State at the Internet Movie Database
• Enemy of the State at Rotten Tomatoes
• Enemy of The State at Box Office Mojo