Enemy of the State (1998)

Introduction
"Enemy of the State" is a 1998 American action-thriller movie directed by Tony Scott, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Will Smith, Gene Hackman, and Jon Voight. The film asserts itself as a conspiracy-thriller that explores styles around government surveillance, information personal privacy, and civil liberties.

Plot Summary
Will Smith plays Robert Dean, a successful Washington D.C. legal representative who begins the movie as a man living a normal life. Things take a dramatic turn when an old associate covertly drops a video into his shopping bag which contains video footage of a congressman's assassination by Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight), a corrupt member of the National Security Agency (NSA). Unbeknownst to Dean, his life is about to get overly made complex.

Direct exposure and Pursuit
Once Reynolds finds that Dean might have the video, utilizes the NSA's huge technological resources to discredit Dean and recover the video. The monitoring technology deployed in this pursuit is represented as advanced for the era, echoing present styles in society about personal privacy invasion. The monitoring magnifies and Dean's life gets methodically taken apart. His credit cards cease to work, his partner thinks him of having an affair, and the FBI starts examining him for supposed connections with a mafia figure. This series of occasions forces Dean to go on the run.

Team-up with Brill
Looking for an escape from this relatively omnipresent security, Dean looks for the assistance of a secretive ex-NSA analyst and conspiracy theorist called Brill (Gene Hackman). Brill, in his paranoia, lives off-grid and understands the depth of the NSA's surveillance capabilities. He chooses to assist Dean in his battle versus Reynolds and the NSA.

Climax and Resolution
Together, they come up with a plan to expose Reynolds and the NSA's actions, using their technology against them. The climax of the film focuses on a thrilling chase sequence where Dean and Brill masterfully avert the NSA's attempts to catch them while collecting the proof needed to expose Reynolds. Eventually, with the help of the Mafia figure that Dean was unjustly related to, they expose Reynolds' corruption to the general public causing his failure.

Conclusion
"Enemy of the State" is an appealing, high-paced thriller that browses through the alarming potential of government overreach and offense of civil liberties. It examines the ramifications when those implied to secure society become its worst opponent. This technology-powered thriller left a long lasting impact and was acknowledged for it's somewhat prophetic expedition of monitoring innovation and privacy issues we face in today's society.

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