This movie came out when I was 12. I was 14 when I finally saw it, and back then it blew me away. It was just so good... I saw it again a few hours ago. It wasn't that good, actually. Sorry.
OK, while the idea is interesting and the message is very important, especially nowadays, its realization left a lot to be desired. There will be spoilers.
OK, first, the main character is played by Will Smith. Will Smith is and has always been an excellent actor. The thing is, in the 90s he was an action/comedy star, and this was exactly what 'Enemy of the State' didn't need. Robert Clayton Dean was supposed to be a lawyer, but he was just a 90s Will Smith character - with the one liners, the comedy, and the action scenes - which would not be a problem, if it didn't shatter my immersion to pieces. The movie tries to be a serious thriller, and yet, the lead character, with no military/martial arts/combat experience whatsoever fights off a person pointing a gun at him in a moving car, runs like a professional athlete, disarms trained policemen, and so on. Uh... How? This is a lawyer we're talking about here, not a Steven Seagal character.
Second, and this is the movie's big problem - for a tech thriller 'Enemy of the State' plays it very loose with technology. In both directions, I mean. On one hand, technology in the movie is so developed that a single stationary security camera in a lingerie store can produce a 360 degree visual of anyone in the store, and a satellite from space can provide detailed image from one particular roof in one particular country. On the other hand, sending a short low-res video via e-mail is unheard of and you need to keep a physical copy of it if you want to have it. Hacking any computer is possible as long as you have a laptop, but uploading a few megabytes on a cloud server (and these existed in the 90s, btw) is, apparently, not.
Third, well... There are certain writing problems that may ruin the movie for certain viewers. Like, even a five year old knows that a cop needs a warrant to search someone's home. Why exactly is it so surprising that a lawyer, of all people, knows this? Why was Gene Hackman's character so cryptic even after he supposedly started trusting Robert? Why did Robert make that phone call after he'd seen what the NSA could do? He knew they tracked phones, he knew they killed his friend, and still... Why?
All in all, despite everything I'm writing here, this movie is not a complete failure. It is thrilling, fast paced and well acted. It just didn't live up to my memories. Sorry.
OK, while the idea is interesting and the message is very important, especially nowadays, its realization left a lot to be desired. There will be spoilers.
OK, first, the main character is played by Will Smith. Will Smith is and has always been an excellent actor. The thing is, in the 90s he was an action/comedy star, and this was exactly what 'Enemy of the State' didn't need. Robert Clayton Dean was supposed to be a lawyer, but he was just a 90s Will Smith character - with the one liners, the comedy, and the action scenes - which would not be a problem, if it didn't shatter my immersion to pieces. The movie tries to be a serious thriller, and yet, the lead character, with no military/martial arts/combat experience whatsoever fights off a person pointing a gun at him in a moving car, runs like a professional athlete, disarms trained policemen, and so on. Uh... How? This is a lawyer we're talking about here, not a Steven Seagal character.
Second, and this is the movie's big problem - for a tech thriller 'Enemy of the State' plays it very loose with technology. In both directions, I mean. On one hand, technology in the movie is so developed that a single stationary security camera in a lingerie store can produce a 360 degree visual of anyone in the store, and a satellite from space can provide detailed image from one particular roof in one particular country. On the other hand, sending a short low-res video via e-mail is unheard of and you need to keep a physical copy of it if you want to have it. Hacking any computer is possible as long as you have a laptop, but uploading a few megabytes on a cloud server (and these existed in the 90s, btw) is, apparently, not.
Third, well... There are certain writing problems that may ruin the movie for certain viewers. Like, even a five year old knows that a cop needs a warrant to search someone's home. Why exactly is it so surprising that a lawyer, of all people, knows this? Why was Gene Hackman's character so cryptic even after he supposedly started trusting Robert? Why did Robert make that phone call after he'd seen what the NSA could do? He knew they tracked phones, he knew they killed his friend, and still... Why?
All in all, despite everything I'm writing here, this movie is not a complete failure. It is thrilling, fast paced and well acted. It just didn't live up to my memories. Sorry.