THE AISLE SEAT - "ENEMY OF THE STATE"

by Mike McGranaghan

I'm a sucker for techno-thrillers. The Net, Sneakers - I love movies that deal with technology's potential for disaster. In a way, it's kind of weird that I'm intrigued by the topic, because I generally find technology to be a good thing. Still, as awe-inspiring as it can be, every new advance seems to open Pandora's box just a little bit wider. In Enemy of the State, the lid is blown right off the box. This is a masterful piece of suspense filmmaking; I was so wrapped up in it that I didn't realize just how much I was enjoying the movie until it was almost over.

Will Smith plays Robert Dean, a Washington, D.C. attorney representing a worker's group in a union dispute against a corrupt businessman with mob ties. One afternoon, he stops in a lingerie shop to pick up a Christmas gift for his wife Carla (Regina King). As he shops, a frantic man comes flying through the door. Dean recognizes him as an old college friend and stops him to say hello. The guy responds quizzically ("Help me!"), then tears off. Before he leaves, though, he has dropped a video in an unsuspecting Dean's bag.

The video shows the murder of a congressman (Jason Robards) under orders from a renegade agent of the National Security Agency named Reynolds (Jon Voight). Reynolds has been lobbying for a bill that would give the NSA more leeway in using satellite technology to spy on America's own citizens. The congressman opposed it, wouldn't change his view, and suffered a hypodermic to the neck as a result. Using a wide array of high-tech computer and satellite equipment, Dean is hunted down by Reynolds. Of course, Dean initially has no idea why these mysterious people are after him; once he catches on, he is able to enlist the help of Brill (Gene Hackman), a former intelligence operative in Baltimore who knows a thing or two about how the NSA works.

Enemy of the State creates an uncomfortable sense of paranoia in its depictions of government spy technology. The incredibly sophisticated gear used by Reynolds and crew allows them to determine Dean's every move. They bug his clothes, trace every phone call he makes, watch him from the skies above. The film eerily suggests that complex invasions of privacy can be carried out with satellites. There's nowhere to hide because eyes are watching wherever you are. There's no place you can speak privately because all the walls have ears. (I'm reminded of the Police song "Every Breath You Take" which says, "Every move you make, I'll be watching you.") I have no idea how much of the technology used in Enemy of the State actually exists right now and how much is looming just ahead. I do know that the movie gave me the creeps. If the things in this movie come to pass, the idea of privacy becomes extinct.

Enemy of the State also has some top-notch action scenes and clever plot twists. The director, Tony Scott (True Romance, Crimson Tide), knows how to make an action scene slick and glossy, but also tense. There's a chase early in the picture that ranks as one of the most exciting in recent memory. The movie is the latest production from Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson, who specialize in frenzied, high-octane action flicks like Armageddon and Bad Boys. I don't always like their style, but this time it works. In Scott, they have found a director who's as interested in the ideas behind the story as he is in the mayhem. Unlike so many similar movies, Enemy of the State has a brain in its head.

Another key to the success is the casting. Will Smith once again proves that he is indisputably a Movie Star. After showing charisma and comic smarts in Men in Black and Independence Day, Smith now demonstrates a strong dramatic sense. He makes the perfect hero for an action movie because he is as smart as he is likable. He's great, but the real interesting twist is the casting of Gene Hackman. You may remember Hackman in Francis Ford Coppola's intense 1974 drama The Conversation, in which he played a wiretapping expert. If you're familiar with that movie, it's a real kick seeing him portray a similar character 24 years later. The things hinted at in the earlier film have now come to pass. Putting Hackman in this film gives it an extra dimension. It's a measure of how far the surveillance field has advanced to see the actor in two cautionary tales separated by decades.

Enemy of the State explores the ideas of what impact technology will have on privacy, then uses those ideas to create exciting moments of action. Lesser films would construct irrelevant action amidst half-hearted musings on the topic (the lame Hackers is an example of just such a film). It's refreshing to see an action picture with some intelligence for a change. The movie gives you a jolt, but ultimately leaves you with a more frightening aftereffect: the realization that if it could happen to Will Smith, it could happen to any one of us.

( 1/2 out of four)

Enemy of the State is rated R for violence and language. The running time is 2 hours and 8 minutes.