Curator Watchlist
A slick, high-energy paranoid thriller that turns surveillance anxiety into mainstream spectacle. It’s a little overstuffed and occasionally ridiculous, but the pace, cast, and Tony Scott’s restless visual style make it an easy recommendation for fans of propulsive 90s studio thrillers.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 2h 12m
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight
When the videotape of the murder of a congressman unknowingly ends up in the hands of labor lawyer and dedicated family man Robert Clayton Dean, he is framed for the murder. With the help of the mysterious Brill, Dean attempts to throw the NSA off his trail and prove his innocence.
Tony Scott
Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight
A slick, high-energy paranoid thriller that turns surveillance anxiety into mainstream spectacle. It’s a little overstuffed and occasionally ridiculous, but the pace, cast, and Tony Scott’s restless visual style make it an easy recommendation for fans of propulsive 90s studio thrillers.
Enemy of the State is one of those big studio thrillers that feels both of its era and weirdly ahead of it. The movie takes the old paranoid-conspiracy template and plugs it into a world of satellites, hidden cameras, and data trails, making surveillance feel omnipresent long before that became a daily reality.
Tony Scott gives the material a constant sense of motion: split screens, frantic editing, glowing monitors, and a city that seems to be watching back. The plot gets a little inflated, but the momentum is strong enough that the excess becomes part of the pleasure. It’s a movie built to keep you leaning forward.
Will Smith is an ideal center for the chaos, grounded enough to make the panic believable while still carrying the movie’s blockbuster energy. Gene Hackman adds the weathered, conspiratorial gravitas that keeps the film from becoming pure noise. It’s not the most elegant thriller of the decade, but it’s one of the most watchable.
Will Menaker (4★) · 1041 likes
GOD Tony Scott always delivers. Every single thing the NSA does to fuck with Will Smith in this movie is by now almost certainly 100% legal and a million times worse. The bad guys won. Also, the evil NSA guy played by Jon Voight's birthdate is given as 9/11/40 in spoken dialogue *EYE EMOJI*
matt lynch (3.5★) · 784 likes
i love how this movie's expiration date keeps getting revised.
SilentDawn (4★) · 572 likes
75 Tony Scott is clearly having a blast with this vintage conspiracy vibe revved up by 90s blockbuster energy. Great ensemble cast. A little long but it's engrossing where it counts. The dated tech also gives it a sleek aesthetic that is unmatched.
sydney (5★) · 407 likes
i saw this in the theater four or five times when it came out, used loose change to buy tickets when my allowance money ran out, which i guess tells you about the sort of 12 year old i was - it's been one of my most beloved favorites ever since, and it only gets better and more relevant with time. can't believe we used to be able to walk into a theater and see tony scott's beautiful, impeccably crafted
Josh Lewis (4★) · 394 likes
Tony Scott updates the 70s paranoid conspiracy thriller for the hyper-active, bullet-paced Bruckheimer blockbuster era and the terrifying hi-tech voyeurism of the incipient NSA surveillance state we now all know and love. It makes a lot of sense that Oliver Stone wanted to direct this post-JFK at one point; it has that deliriously anxious momentum to it, and a similar mix of silly and stock characterization vs. sobering depiction of actual political reality that he likes. I’m glad Tony made… more
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surveillance, privacy invasion, government conspiracy, paranoia, identity under pressure, technology and monitoring, urban chase thriller, institutional power
paranoid thriller, 90s blockbuster, surveillance state, techno-thriller, conspiracy, high-energy editing, urban action, privacy, cat-and-mouse, government overreach