Enemy of the State (Special Edition)

Ever see a movie that takes you so far that you actually see the characters as someone really talking in front of you? Will Smith, Lisa Bonet and Tom Sizemore (amongst the others), are acting too hard. They weren't convincing enough to make me feel like they were real characters. Again, the action was great. But the acting was contrived and predictable.

An earlier Will Smith movie but the first that allowed him out of his "Fresh Prince" role. Loved it when first released and loved it now, essential if one is keeping Will Smith movies. Nice blu ray transfer.

Wow, I remember seeing this movie a long time ago and didn't really give it much thought. It just seemed like Hollywood hysteria and way out there fiction for the most part. I had forgotten about the movie.

Recently I was shopping for some DVD's here on Amazon and this movie came up on my recommended list. So I bought a copy and watched it. This movie really freaked me out watching it now in a post 9/11 world. The measures taken by those in power to get what they wanted - "The Telecommunications, Security, and Privacy Act" and dead on similarities of the powers enacted by the "The Patriot Act" should be a wakeup call for everyone. To quote the chairman at the beginning of the movie: "Invasion of privacy is more like it", and he goes on to state: "This bill is not the first step to the surveillance of society, IT IS the surveillance of society"... Of course the government bad guy played by Voight says: "It's just liberal hysteria" The chairman had the good sense to say: "I am not going to sit in congress and pass a bill that allows the government to point a camera and microphone at anything they darn well please!"

All this is in the opening scenes of this movie. Now I would have given the movie 5 stars, but some of the things are a stretch as far as capabilities and things happening which I won't go into in this review. In this post 9/11 world I feel this movie is dead on relevant and the abilities and power the government has given itself by playing on our fears is unprecedented. This movie should scare and provoke some thought about what we have and are doing to our society today and just what does freedom really mean. This was a ho-hum movie that has become a great movie due to the turn of world events and apparent level of manipulation and terrorizing of society that is happening today.

Pick up a copy of this movie or pull it off the shelf and watch it today and see if it doesn't open your eyes and give this movie a new edge that it didn't have when it first came out!

US techno-thriller in which successful lawyer Will Smith's life is turned upside down when he somehow gets hold of a tape that shows prominent politician Jon Voight murdering a fellow congressman. Voight and his people find out that Smith has possession of the tape and then set about trying to get the tape back, tracking Smith using the latest surveillance technology including tracers and spy satellites. They also invalidate Smith and his wife's credit cards by computer to make life as difficult for Smith as possible and murder Smith's close friend Lisa Bonet, hoping to frame Smith for her murder in an attempt to discredit him if he were ever to go public with what he knows. Smith goes on the run and eventually teams up with reclusive former National Security Agency employee and technological whiz Gene Hackman and together they try to bring the nefarious Voight and his team down. A pacy conspiracy thriller showing the potential for the abuse of power by those that control the surveillance technology that is supposed to protect us from threats such as terrorism and a timely commentary on the erosion of personal privacy and civil liberties in this day and age. Not a perfect movie because I did not feel that justice had been correctly served by the end of the movie but nonetheless very good.

Will Smith is great in this movie. Him and Gene Hackman are good together. Lots of action and great storyline.