Tony Scott Retrospect – Enemy of the State (1998) – Encore Review 2

“In guerrilla warfare, you try to use your weaknesses as strengths. Well, if they’re big and you’re small, then you’re mobile and they’re slow. You’re hidden and they’re exposed. You only fight battles you know you can win. That’s the way the Vietcong did it. You capture their weapons and you use them against them the next time. – Brill

Number of Times Seen – at least 10 times (Theater in ’98, video, DVD, 10 Jun 2014, 1 Sep 2019 and 21 Jun 2020)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A lawyer gets inadvertently gets involved in a political conspiracy and must try and find a way to clear his name.

My Take on it – I’m going to be a guest at the end of the month on a podcast that will be reviewing the body of work of Director Tony Scott, so I plan to watch and review over the next 8 days, 8 of his most popular films in order of their release dates.

This is #6!

This is a movie that I can watch over and over and always enjoy it so much largely due to the very clever story that works really well.

This is a movie that probably works even better today than it did twenty two years ago when it came out because of how much we all now know about government surveillance and political maneuverings used to both protect personal privacy and those that have taken some of those rights away.

Th script is written really well and due to elements of foreshadowing and ways that it back references other aspects of the story both helps keep things moving at a rapid pace.

The cast of this film is superb and Will Smith and Gene Hackman are perfect together as a love-hate team.

They have great chemistry together that helps keep things even more fun and enjoyable.

Tony Scott was an amazing director who knew how to create such a fast paced and enjoyable action thriller and this film fits right onto his niche and he delivers so well with everything here.

The story does a wonderful job mixing together numerous themes like conspiracy theories, the mafia, politics, special operations units and privacy rights and put things together in such an enjoyable package.

Bottom Line – Such a fun movie that works even better now than it probably did twenty years ago because of how relevant the plot seems to world events, The script is quite clever and the various foreshadowing and back references work really well in keeping things moving along The cast is superb with Smith and Hackman having great chemistry together. Once again, Scott shows here how adept an action thriller director he can be and finds ways to keep the action and story moving along at a rapid fire pace throughout. Love the way that the story mixes together conspiracy theories politics, the mafia, special ops and privacy rights into one really enjoyable package. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Gene Hackman and Jon Voight were considered to play U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1993), which went to Tommy Lee Jones, who also worked with Will Smith on the Men in Black film franchise. Hackman and Voight have also worked with The Fugitive (1993) Director Andrew Davis on movies like Holes (2003) and The Package (1989), which also featured Tommy Lee Jones. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10) (no change from original review)