Enemy of the State
Enemy of the State is a
1998 film written by
David Marconi, directed by
Tony Scott, and starring
Will Smith,
Gene Hackman,
Jon Voight, and
Lisa Bonet. The film grossed over $250,000,000 worldwide ($111,549,836 domestically - all figures in
USD).
Tagline:
It's not paranoia if they're really after you.As the movie opens,
legislation is pending to expand surveillance powers of
law enforcement agencies.
Republican Senator Phil Hammersleigh (
Jason Robards, uncredited), who is trying to stop the bill, is killed by several
NSA agents. Thomas Reynolds (
Jon Voight), an official trying to push the bill to secure a promotion for himself within the agency, supervises the murder. The agents then plant a bottle of heart medication at the scene to make it look as though Senator Hammersligh died from a drug overdose. They are not aware that the murder is being recorded by a video camera aimed directly across the lake used to track migratory patterns of
Canadian Geese.
A researcher named Daniel Zavitz (
Jason Lee) removes the tape from the camera and, upon playing it, sees that Senator Hammersligh was murdered and did not die of a sudden
heart attack as was reported on the news. However, an NSA agent saw Zavitz retrieve the tape from its camera. Zavitz copies the tape onto a computer cartridge. When the agents show up, he hides it in a
TurboExpress and runs.
Robert Clayton Dean (
Will Smith) is a labor lawyer working in
trade union cases. While shopping at a lingerie store for his wife, Dean encounters Zavitz, an old friend from
Georgetown University, fleeing the NSA agents. Zavitz drops the cartridge with the murder footage into Dean's shopping bag and flees. Outside the store, Zavitz takes a bike, rides across a busy street, and is hit by a firetruck and killed. Using high-tech
satellite technology, the agents quickly determines that Dean likely has the tape, and they endeavor to get it back. The agents visit Dean, who is unaware that Zavitz gave him the video, and attempt to get him to turn it over. When he does not cooperate, they disrupt his credit line and invade his personal life. They ransack and bug his house and install tracking devices in his watch, cellular phone, and clothing. When some time passes and he still does not come around, they turn up the pressure by killing Dean's friend Rachel (
Lisa Bonet) and framing him for the murder.
Prior to her murder, Rachel had helped Dean with difficult investigations relating to his law practice. She had an associate, Brill (
Gene Hackman) who could conduct difficult electronic surveillances. After Rachel is killed, Brill and Dean make contact and wind up working together to combat the rogue agents. After the video of Hammersleigh's murder is accidentally destroyed, Dean and Brill stage an encounter with the agents. After their initial plan goes wrong, Dean claims that the leader of the Pintero
mafia family has the tape Reynolds is after. When they go to retrieve it, the situation becomes a
Mexican standoff between the agents and mobsters. The mafia headquarters, which is under
FBI surveillance, proves an untenable location for the conspiracy to remain a secret. A large shootout ensues, with Dean and Brill among the survivors as Reynolds, nearly all of the agents involved in the conspiracy, and most of the mobsters are killed. The FBI sweeps in, the plot behind the legislation is revealed, and the only two surviving conspirators, computer nerds Fiedler (
Jack Black) and Jamie (
Jamie Kennedy) are under investigation by law enforcement.
Dean is cleared of all charges and returns home with his wife. Brill, who quietly left the scene of the bloodbath after he saw that Dean survived, resurfaces with a message to Dean through the television in his home. First, Dean sees a live image of himself on the screen and fears that his troubles have returned, only to then see a blurred image on screen revealing Brill's cat and a tropical scene of Brill's legs with a message reading, "Wish you were here."
*
Will Smith - Robert Clayton Dean
*
Gene Hackman - Edward 'Brill' Lyle
*
Barry Pepper - Det. David Pratt
*
Jon Voight - Thomas Brian Reynolds
*
Regina King - Carla Dean
*
Ian Hart - Det. John Bingham
*
Lisa Bonet - Rachel F. Banks
*
Jake Busey - Krug
*
Scott Caan - Jones
*
Jamie Kennedy - Jamie Williams
*
Jason Lee - Daniel Leon Zavitz
*
Gabriel Byrne - Fake Brill
*
Stuart Wilson - Congressman Sam Albert
*
Jack Black - Fiedler
*Laura Cayouette - Christa Hawkins
*
Loren Dean - Loren Hicks
*
Dan Butler - NSA Director Shaffer
*
Seth Green - Computer Specialist (uncredited)
*While most of the addresses and locations mentioned in the movie are in
Washington, DC, the vast majority of the filming was done in the neighboring city of
Baltimore,
Maryland.
*The film's setting is around Christmas time, but was actually filmed in January and February of 1997. Many of the filming locations were told to haul all of their holiday decor back out and "re-decorate."
*Filming crews had hoped to film a few "
white Christmas" scenes, but the winter of 1997 brought warm temperatures, and no snow, to the Baltimore area.
* The movie had a
TSCM consultant in the staff, who also played a minor role as a spy shop merchant.
* The movie deals heavily with issues that cropped up again in the debate over the United States
Patriot Act. Coincidentally, Reynolds, the antagonist and foremost proponent of the anti-privacy bill, was born on
September 11,
1940.
*
Mel Gibson and
Tom Cruise were considered for the part that went to
Will Smith.
George Clooney was also considered for a role in the film, which may have been that of Reynolds.
*In the film, the ferry that Dean rides is mentioned to have a destination to Gibson Island, a real island on the coast of the
Chesapeake Bay. However, no such ferry exists, as Gibson Island is a privately-owned corporation.
*Shots of the NSA satellite, seen frequently during the movie, were re-used in the pilot episode of the TV series
24.
*
Conspiracy thrillerEnema of the State, a music album which came out a year later.
The Conversation, a
1974 film featuring Hackman in a similar role. Old identification photos appearing in Brill's dossier in "Enemy of the State" bear a striking resemblance to surveillance expert Harry Caul in "The Conversation," especially the glasses. Brill acknowledges he has changed his name before.
