“Enemy of the State” is another movie where an innocent person is being chased in the same vein as “The Fugitive” and “Chain Reaction”. It’s an intense film with some very good performances and it’s the first film directed by Tony Scott (“Top Gun”) I’ve liked.

In this film, Will Smith (“Men In Black”, “I Am Legend”) stars as a lawyer named Robert Dean, who unknowingly finds himself in the middle of a large conspiracy theory and a ruthless N.S.A. boss (Jon Voight “Mission: Impossible”) doesn’t care what it takes to get the situation under control. Dean needs help and maybe the only person who can help him is off-the-grid ex-N.S.A. worker Edward Lyle (Gene Hackman “Superman II”).

I think Will Smith works really well here as Robert Dean as he has the right level of humour and seriousness. Smith also appears to be very good when it comes to the action sequences, which prove to be very entertaining. Gene Hackman is also very good as Edward Lyle and he also delivers the balance of comedy and drama. The duo work well together. I also really like the sort-of bad guy if you will, played well by Jon Voight. My only real problem with the casting is there is no charismatic individual chasing Smith like Tommy Lee Jones did in “The Fugitive” (and “U.S. Marshals” and “Double Jeopardy”).

“Enemy of the State” gives us an intriguing look at how surveillance technology works but at the same time it remembers it is a blockbuster movie and delivers the goods. “Enemy of the State” perhaps isn’t quite as good as something like “The Fugitive” but it’s also an improvement over some of the other movies following the same formula. It packs just enough star power and just enough high-tech gizmos and action scenes for this to be a more than competent thriller.