SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Will Smith movie in order, I come to Enemy Of The State (1998) Plot In A Paragraph: Lawyer Robert Dean (Will Smith) becomes a target by a corrupt politician (Jon Voight) and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.Smith massively dials it down from the last three movies, and does some solid acting. In fact it's his most impressive performance since Six Degrees Of Separation. As fun as he was in Bad Boys, Independence Day and Men In Black, Mike Lowrey, Captain Steven Hilliard and Agent J, are all basically the same person, just an exaggerated form of the Will Smith public persona. Here he is at his most effective, a true case is less is more. But as good as Will Smith is (and he is totally believable as the family man lawyer, who does not have a clue, what is happening to him) it's Gene Hackman who dominates and steals every scene he is in. I love him anyway, but he is brilliant here. Jon Voight is always great, I'm a fan of his. Regina King is good, as is Lisa Bonet, an actress I had a huge crush on growing up. There are small roles for Jason Lee, Jack Black, Seth Green, Phillip Baker Hall, Jason Robards, James Le Gros and Tom Sizemore. Gabriel Byrne also has a blink and you'll miss him part too.Overall it's a tense, well directed and well acted movie, with a good sense of paranoia and tension. One of Will Smiths best for me. I find him to be much better, when he is actually acting instead of playing versions of him self.Enemy Of The State grossed $111 million at the domestic box office to end 1998, the 15th highest grossing movie of the year.

Alex Runner Before I start there will be spoilers.The film is based of the idea of having a corrupt politician in the 90's. Like into days society people are afraid of a corrupt politician and the power he can receive.While this is the first time I have seen it, I don't think the film is very popular. The reason why I found this was in the action section on Netflix and was the very first to show. The movie felt boring, I fell its because there wasn't enough change in the setting it was always on the run, not enough time for you to sit breath and evaluate what happened.The film has you question about corrupt politician and the terrible thing they do. When it comes to politics you should be aware of what they do and what they cant.While there is no internal conflict with are main character 'Robert' there is an external conflict. Robert was in a kinky lingerie shop for his wife. Daniel Zavitz ran into the shop running from the NSA and dropped off video footage of a corrupt politician. Now the NSA is after Robert.While the movie was semi boring I enjoyed the plot and the acting and because of that I give it a 5/10.

EBJ Overall: I understand 10 may seem like a stretch and I'm not doing it to boost the ranking but I think the movie was excellent.Good: Amazing tension and good action sequences which are in short supply. A whole roster of likable and unlikeable characters. Pretty decent effects which can hold up today. Great performances all around with some well placed humour to break it up.Bad: Numerous escapes are down to pure luck. The henchmen have ample opportunities to eliminate Will Smith but don't use them. The henchmen are morons overall.Best Part: The Hotel sequence were will escapes.10/10

juneebuggy This was a more than decent conspiracy thriller, although in saying that I do remember being way more impressed and freaked out by all the big brother technology when I first saw it in 98 than I did now in my re-watch. Most of the techno stuff is now so common place that we don't even consider it and it doesn't feel like such a threat as it did back then.I liked the cast here a lot, Will Smith does a great job as Robert Dean whose life is turned upside down after an old friend slips him evidence regarding a congressman's murder. Dean quickly loses his job & his wife, has his bank accounts frozen and becomes a fugitive whose only hope is a cat loving mysterious former intelligence agent played by the very cranky but oh so good Gene Hackman. Jon Voight is also worth a mention as the head bad guy, as is a very sweaty and bloated Tom Sizemore as Pintero, the mob boss.Some great action sequences along the way, although far fetched to a degree as Will is just a lawyer but after he goes on the run suddenly becomes an action hero, able to evade bad guys, scale balconies and use a pump action shot gun like a hit man. The ending is well done, a little tricky including an excellent shoot out.Exceptional secondary cast here too including Barry Pepper, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Gabriel Byrne, Jason Lee and two second generation stars teaming up in Jake Busy and Scott Caan. 2/10/16