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Will thrills as 'Enemy of the State' By Will Raiman and Sean Morrison Big Money, No Whammy! ATLANTA November 20, 1998
 Enemy of the State is a thriller about an innocent man (Will Smith) caught up in a massive government conspiracy. His attempts at reclaiming his normal life are thwarted by the efforts of big government in the form of Jim Voight. Smith's only recourse seems to be working with a dubious paranoiac (Gene Hackman) with whom he would never even have consorted with two days earlier.
Will: Two proud traditions are carried on in the form of this movie. The first is the recent slew of high-tech, big-government-fearing, X-Files-inspired movies. The second (and more impressive) is the great series of
action movies made by Jerry Bruckheimer, including such greats as Armageddon, The Rock, and Con Air.
Sean: Action is definitely the name of the game in this film. From car chases to foot chases to massive explosions, the whole gamut of action is covered. But I must say, I was a little disappointed that the movie wasn't funnier. In his past action movies, Will Smith has managed to bring a significant amount of levity to the screen. This movie was just too busy being 'actiony' and suspenseful to be funny. And that upset me.
Will: Hey, I was just happy that he managed to not play the Fresh Prince of the Enemy of the State. Anyone who saw Men in Black or Independence Day knows that he tends to play that one character over and over again. Plus, I don't think that this movie was even supposed to be funny. This movie was all about creepy government agents abusing power.
Sean: Still, a little bit of comic relief would have been nice. Just
relievin' the tension, baby, just relievin' the tension. I did like the constant unease caused by the government knowing every move that Smith made. It was kind of spooky, enough to make all of us a paranoiac in fact.
Will: One thing that I should point out, that I would in fact be remiss in omitting, are the technical flaws in this film. There is a scene in which the massive NSA computers take the footage from a security camera in a mall store and rotate the point of view 180 degrees to see what's going on behind someone's back. Now, maybe there is a supercomputer somewhere on the planet that could think about how to go about doing this. But in my opinion, this is where the movie crossed the line separating scary believability from science fiction.
Sean: I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the camerawork was annoying at times. Too often, chases are accompanied by the camera bouncing around and just generally causing motion sickness. While I have to admit that it does add some realism to the chase, nausea-inducing camerawork is not usually a good idea for movies that are going to be shown in crowded theatres, at least in my opinion. Overall, I liked the movie. It was gritty, intense, and (usually) scarily believable. A good watch for the price of admission.
Will: One last comment on visual effects before we go. Jerry Bruckheimer movies tend to be washed in shades of blue with yellow highlights. This color scheme is interspersed with shots of dirty, rainy alleyways and trafficked roads. This can be an interesting effect but becomes tiring after a few hours. I would humbly ask Mr. Bruckheimer to try another color scheme. All that aside, I would still recommend this for lovers of intelligent action flicks. Go see it and have a good time.
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Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board
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