Originally written 12/30/15
Enemy
of the State is a high-tech thriller that starts off
promising but continually pushes suspension of disbelief to its breaking point.
The movie was certainly ahead of its time with the NSA espionage elements, but
that does not give it a free pass. Will Smith is a great lead as always, but
his character is not particularly interesting. It becomes harder and harder to
believe that a family man lawyer could evade government agents for as long as
he did. Gene Hackman phones it in as a generic grumpy old man, which is a shame
because he has played the grumpy old man character with a much more enjoyable
zeal in other films. Enemy of the State also features every single geek character actor from the 1990's. If you have ever wanted to see Jamie Kennedy, Seth Green, and Jack Black sit in front of computers together, this is the movie for you.
The
rest of the movie was already highly improbable, but the ending is a trope that
I do not care for due to how unrealistic it feels. It is the "Comical
misunderstanding because neither party will use specific details when
speaking" trope. The cliché is usually played for laughs in comedy films,
but here it is played seriously, making it even harder to believe. The film is
passable entertainment with more brains than the usual Bruckheimer production,
but there are still too many Hollywood trappings that keep it from being great.
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