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Enemy Of The State
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Cameron Murray (13th June 2006). |
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The Film
 Enemy of the State is a fast paced thriller that makes a strong political statement without sacrificing action or intensity. The film is about the continuing reduction in privacy that anyone and everyone can suffer in their life, as ‘big brother’ continues to try and probe into their relevant countries lives under the guise of protection and for the good of the nation. With a talented cast consisting of Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, plus future stars such as Jack Black, Seth Green, plus others and even cameos by Gabriel Byrne and Jason Lee this movie reeks of class from the opening sequence through to its intelligent conclusion. The story takes place amidst a political climate of paranoia and certain members of the government wanting to infringe on its citizens basic right to privacy. A political assassination takes place, and is staged as a suicide/ accidental death. Unfortunately for those who have staged this murder they have been captured on tape by a Daniel Zavitz (Jason Lee) who was studying the migratory patterns of geese. The conspirators find this poor sap and begin to chase him through the streets, where he runs into his old friend Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) and he deposits the evidence in Dean’s shopping without his knowledge, shortly before meeting with an untimely and rather grisly death. Unfortunately for Dean the conspirators headed by NSA honcho Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight) find out that he has the evidence and seeks him out to destroy his credibility if not take his life. Through an old college sweet heart Dean is put in touch with an ex-NSA agent (Gene Hackman) and from there they turn the tide on there pursuer and return some of the under hand favors that they have been paid to Smith and Hackman’s characters. The acting in this movie was superb especially by Smith and Hackman. I will confess to being a Will Smith fan, and have wasted many an afternoon watching re-runs of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air(1990-1996) but his acting has significantly improved since those sitcom days. Hackman is excellent as always, I have seen him better but he is still a pleasure to watch and he plays the reclusive Brill well and seems constantly annoyed with Smith’s character which gives the movie a nice dynamic, different from the usual buddy crap. I was a little disappointed with Voight’s performance and have seen him do far better. Jack Black, Seth Green and the rest of the geek squad within this movie are enjoyable to watch and they play the rejects from school that haven’t grown up but are living and working in the incredibly grown-up world of politics and espionage. The style of this movie is fast paced with many different camera angles and quick cuts. The thing that I found most impressive of this style was that they managed to keep it up from the opening sequence to the rolling of the credits. They intertwine the use of surveillance type cameras seamlessly and it seems less like a stylistic device than a valid plot vessel. Apart from this the style offers nothing incredibly ground breaking. Tony Scott has done better stylistic work for example Man on Fire (2004) immediately springs to mind, but that said it is still a thoroughly enjoyable style and easy to watch even if you are not a fan of the thriller genre. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. The subject of movie intrigued me and brought to light a few scary things that are worth thinking about. The style of this movie was enjoyable and not too overbearing and more often than not suited the situation it was being used in. The acting is first class, and with an ensemble cast of such an amazingly high quality it is a joy to watch. This movie is a bit like watching one of those before they were famous programs and after watching this movie you can see why the actors have gone as far as they have. This is a good movie, rent it, buy it just make sure you watch it.
Video
Presented in the film’s original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1, this anamorphic transfer is a huge improvement over the older non-anamorphic transfer, which is expected. The image is very film-like, some grain is evident but the majority of the image is quite sharp. Colors are rendered well and black levels are nice and rich, shadow detail is consistent especially in any scene that is dimly lit. I noticed only minor compression artefacts but this wasn’t a complete nuisance. Overall I was generally pleased with this transfer although it could be a lot better; this is the perfect title to introduce into the new high-definition format blue-ray disc.
Audio
This film includes only one audio track, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is active and unforgiving, like any good action movie. It’s not exactly reference quality but it’s certainly close to it. Dialogue is clean and clear; the action scenes are totally immersive and make excellent use of the entire sound space. Gun shots, explosions, helicopters all sound realistic and exciting. The bass channel comes in often and shakes the room. Music is equally well mixed into the track and is never too overbearing and heightens the tension and actions scenes suitably well. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired only.
Extras
First up we have 2 deleted scenes: - Jones Gets Bitten which runs for 43 seconds, as the surveillance team break into Dean’s house, Jones (Scott Caan) gets bitten by the Dean’s dog. - Confrontation at the Limousine Service runs for 2 minutes 7 seconds and is an extended scene that shows Dean trying to get a meeting with Pintero (Tom Sizemore). Next up is The Making Of Enemy of the State featurette, which runs for 29 minutes 14 seconds. This is a basic EPK clip that covers the technology, the story, the actors and key crew telling us about how great this film and also warning us about how technology is taking away your privacy. The clip also includes some behind-the-scenes footage from the filming as well. Next up is the All Access: The Shootout featurette which runs for 13 minutes 19 seconds, this is a fly on the wall behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the climactic shootout in Pintero’s restaurant. This is quite a cool extra for those film geeks that like to see how a scene comes together and how it’s shot. Also included is the film’s original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 31 seconds as well as a collection of bonus trailers that include: - "Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" which runs for 1 minute 46 seconds. - "Grey's Anatomy: Season 1" promo spot that runs for 1 minute. - "Glory Road" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "Annapolis" which runs for 2 minutes 23 seconds. - "Crimson Tide: Extended Edition" which runs for 2 minutes 37 seconds. - "Con Air: Extended Edition" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. All of the previews except for the film's original theatrical trailer and for Con Air are start-up trailers and play before the menu, to skip them press the ‘menu’ button on your remote.
Packaging
This new edition of Enemy of the State Special Edition is packaged in an amaray case housed in a shiny cardboard slip-cover.
Overall
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