DVD Review: Enemy of the State: Special Edition
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::Movie review
It's interesting how sometimes movies gain new relevance with time. Awhile ago, I revisited The Truman Show. At the time of its initial release, it was a wild story that, while entertaining, seemed rather implausible. This was before the current explosion of over-the-top reality television. Today, The Truman Show seems almost tame.
I recently viewed the release of the new "unrated" edition of the 1998 film, Enemy of the State. I remember seeing that film in the theater and, much like The Truman Show, I felt that it was good, mindless action, but not in any way realistic.
1998 was very different time. We didn't know that airplanes could be maliciously flown into American buildings. No one had ever heard of a "Patriot Act." In 1998, it was entertaining to create stories about a vast government machine designed to pry into the lives of every American. In 2006, it's a reality.
As more and more proposals for additions and expanded powers under the Patriot act are being introduced, it’s worth reviewing Enemy of the State for a reality check about the abuse of said powers. Now, I'm not the sort of nut who automatically distrusts every action the government takes. Generally, I think that most of the initial motivations are sound, but then again, they say that the road to hell is paved with the best intentions.
Enemy of the State opens with the discussion of a bill to give the government unprecedented power to monitor American communications. One congressman (played by Jason Robards) opposes the bill. It's too much power, he feels. Thomas Reynolds (John Voight) of the National Security Agency, disagrees. The bill is necessary to combat terrorism, and it must be passed at all costs.
It turns out that "all costs" involves the murder of the opposing congressman.
Unfortunately, the murder is caught on tape, and Reynolds must now recover the evidence. The pursued filmographer (Jason Lee) bumps into his old college acquaintance, attorney Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith), and he slips Dean the tape shortly before being killed in traffic.
After reconstructing the events from satellite imagery and video surveillance, Reynolds becomes convinced that Dean has the tape, and he begins pursuit of the lawyer. Reynolds' assault is awesome in scope, discrediting Dean with implied extra-marital affairs, canceling his credit cards, locking his bank accounts, planting tracking devices o him, and even framing him for murder.
Relying on shear Will Smith audacity and luck to escape, Dean runs into a man named Brill (Gene Hackman) who has a background in government spying. Brill reluctantly assists Dean and the two attempt to outsmart their rogue government pursuers long enough to use their evidence to save their lives.
As the story plays out, one of the things that I liked about it is that the American government, as an entity, isn't automatically painted as the villain.
Reynolds is clearly acting on his own, using the technology at his disposal for his own personal gain. This potential for the distortion of what, on the surface, seems like a necessary and effective weapon against terrorism is a point made many times in the film: A bill that allows virtually unlimited monitoring of communications may not, by itself, be "evil," but the potential for its abuse is the concern.
How easy would it be for unscrupulous politicians to use information gathered to discredit their competition? Or to monitor sensitive financial communications for personal gain? Given the ability to look at anything, who could possibly resist looking at everything?
One poignant scene in the movie has Dean and Brill turning the tables on their pursuers by installing monitoring equipment in the hotel room of the bill's chief proponent, congressman Sam Albert (Stuart Wilson). When the married Albert appears about to engage in an illicit affair with his cute, young aid, Dean and Brill seem compelled to watch. As Brill says, it's intoxicating to watch people when they don't know you're watching.
Enemy of the State was directed by Tony Scott, who knows how to deliver taut action. He manages to keep the pace frantic, while always making sure that the audience is able to keep up with what's going on. Frankly, I couldn't tell you what was added back into the film to make this the unrated edition, but even at over two hours long, the story never wavers into the realm of tedium or boredom.
Overall, given the current political climate, I found that I enjoyed (or perhaps "was unsettled by" is a better way to put it) Enemy of the State much more than the first time around. A great movie, it is not, but it fulfills its job as entertainment, and sometimes that’s all you can ask for.
::Video
This new release is a vast improvement over the original Touchstone edition. For one thing, the transfer has been upgraded to anamorphic, which automatically improves the picture clarity for wide screen displays. Also, benefiting from more refined compression techniques, the overall image seems cleaner and sharper and with better color and contrasts. Even so, I can’t rate this quite as high as more modern releases, as a few digital flaws here and there keep this transfer from rising above average.
::Audio
The filmmakers really put the 5.1 audio track to good use here with a lot of sonic special effects. Of particular note are the satellite shots, with their (implausible) electronic bleeping. There is also a ton of action and, as might be expected from a Tony Scott film, no small amount of explosions and gun play, so your sub-woofers will enjoy quite the workout.
::Special Features
This edition remains rather light on extra features, but I really didn’t mind. While I do love supplements on DVD, there are times when I feel the studios throw too much in just for the sake of padding. Not every film needs 12 hours of bonus material.
Starting things off is the half hour The Making of Enemy of the State. Featuring mostly archived interview footage, this feature tries to play up the quasi-reality of the film. However, the occasional lack of “meat” in the interviews suggests a slight Press Kit feel at times.
Next is something called All Access: The Showdown and it’s a 13 minute look at the climax of the film.
Two Deleted Scenes are presented, and while one of these scenes explains why one of the characters is wearing a bandage later in the film, neither really add anything significant to the story.
Finally, there is a trailer for the film and several other Touchstone releases.
::Bottom Line
I struggle with how to rate a film like Enemy of the State. As pure entertainment, it certainly works with its good acting and over-the-top action. However, there are times when the film seems to take itself a little too seriously, and that’s when it’s absurdities threaten to topple it. As I said above, I liked it better this time around compared to when I first saw it, if only because of its new relevancy.
Buy Enemy of the State at Amazon.com
| Movie |  |
3.5 / 5 |
| Video | |
3.5 / 5 |
| Audio | |
4 / 5 |
| Extras | |
3 / 5 |
| Family Friendly | |
1 / 5 |
| Enemy of the State is certainly not a film for the younger kids, but the teens can handle it. | ||
| Overall | |
3.5 / 5 |
- Robert Wurth, ©2006
::Technical Specs
Studio:
Touchstone Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release:
1998
Disc Format:
1 single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Region Encoding:
1 (North America)
Sound Format:
Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (pro logic)
Running Time:
131 minutes
Director:
Tony Scott
Stars:
Will Smith, Gene Hackman, John Voight
MPAA Rating:
Unrated
Disc Supplements:
- The Making of Enemy of the State featurette
- All Access: The Showdown featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Theatrical trailer
