The best thrillers play off of a kind of common paranoia, the kind of things that your average Joe would find troubling or scary. The big daddy paranoia of them all is of course the sense that you're being watched. "Enemy of the State" plays off this fear in a big way. And though it may push at the edges of plausibility, it never quite jumps into the kind of fantasy world where you can comfort yourself by saying "Now, that couldn't possibly happen."

The newest film by the director of "Crimson Tide," "Enemy" is not quite as tautly crafted a drama, but remains quite entertaining. Part of this is a great performance by Will Smith, who seems to play the part of Robert Clayton Dean as an average guy who's just having the ultimate bad day. He supplies moments of levity that would have been completely out of place in its submarine predecessor, but work quite well here.

Production values are quite high, as is the norm for films coming out of the Jerry Bruckheimer corner of the universe. For those who are sweating at home with the word "Armageddon" on trembling lips, rest assured, there's a story in this one.

The premise is this: An ambitious NSA official, played by Jon Voight, discovers that a videotape has been made which implicates him in the seemingly accidental death of a prominent congressman.

The unwitting Dean, a successful lawyer, is shopping for a Christmas present for his wife (in a lingerie store which, if it exists, I need to get the address of) when the man who made the tape (played by "Chasing Amy's" Jason Lee) slips it into his shopping bag. Moments later, Lee's character is dead, and all attention turns to Dean.

Naturally, the NSA, being the quintessential "Big Brother" in the minds of Americans, use their technology and power to turn Dean's life upside down. They cancel his credit cards, convince his wife he's having an affair with an old flame, and ultimately try to have him killed. Dean, in turn, enlists the aid of a reclusive hacker (Gene Hackman, looking for all intents and purposes like an older version of the bugging expert he played in "The Conversation"), alias "Brill," who has helped him in the past. Brill is the picture of paranoia, and has good reason to be -- he's quite familiar with the abilities and tactics of the NSA.

"Enemy of the State" is part techno-thriller, part buddy movie. Hackman is as fantastic as ever, and seems to share a good chemistry with Smith. These aren't the deepest characters in the world, but you can bite into them pretty well. They're colorful. They're human. You care for them.

Paranoia abounds, of course. You've heard all the stories of how the government can track a man all the way from a satellite in geosyncrhonous orbit. The tiny bugs that can be tracked for miles. Tiny cameras in smoke detectors. They're all here, and heck, if we hear the rumors, then who knows what the government has cooked up that we don't hear about?

The story succeeds for the same reasons a movie like "Gattaca" succeeds. It's that we can imagine a time when these things really could be the norm rather than a far off worry. The debate between privacy and security is one that is raging even as we speak, as terrorism and its attendant fears continue to rise. Many think the government should be more vigilant, that wrongdoers' rights are less important than the security of the peaceful majority. The problem comes, as one character in the film ominously asks, "Who decides who needs to be watched?"

The problems are few, but they are there. One, and a common problem with techno-thrillers, is the boxed-into-a-corner dilemma. Namely, with such incredible odds against you and a powerful, faceless foe with near-omnipotence, how in the world do the intrepid heroes survive? The solution is pretty clever, but perhaps a little too clever for its own good -- plausibility suffers. There's a mob subplot that doesn't get fleshed out enough for my tastes. But these are small gripes in an otherwise highly entertaining film.

"Enemy of the State" is perfect example of how an action thriller can be intelligently crafted without being cerebral; it may not make you think too hard, but it'll sure make you worry.

Recommended.




Recommended: Yes