Enemy of the State is a rollercoaster action ride with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. This new edition contains an unrated extended cut and owners of the old version may want to consider an upgrade (see below).
Robert Dean (Will Smith) is a successful D. C. labor lawyer who is currently trying to get some of his clients out from under the thumb of mob boss Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore). To get something to hold over the boss he hires a surveillance expert named Brill (Gene Hackman) and uses his ex-girlfriend (Lisa Bonet) as go between.
Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight) is a high official in the National Security Agency and wants passage of a new spying bill. He meets covertly with a Congressman who is the committee chairman (Jason Robards) to get him to sign onto the bill. When the Congressman disagrees, Reynolds has him assassinated on the spot and made to look like he had a heart attack. Unbeknownst to Reynolds and his team, wildlife photographer Daniel Zavitz (Jason Lee) had a motion activated video camera across the lake where they killed the Congressman to monitor the migration pattern of some wild geese.
Eventually they find out that Zavitz has the tape and while they’re chasing him down he surreptitiously puts the tape (hidden in a handheld video game machine) in Dean’s Christmas shopping bags. Zavitz is killed trying to get away and the high tech team accesses some in shop security footage that shows Dean getting the handoff (though still unbeknownst to Dean). Reynolds sets about to discredit Dean, getting him fired, his credit cards canceled, and sending photos to Dean’s wife (Regina King) showing him talking to his old girlfriend (which sends her through the roof). On the run, Dean has to find the elusive Brill, get him to help, find out what these mysterious agency folks are after, and get his life back.
Will Smith on the run
Enemy of the State is an action packed ride from director Tony Scott and has great performances from Smith and Hackman. There are also numerous recognizable faces in credited (and uncredited) performances, including Sizemore, Robards, Gabriel Byrne, Jack Black, Seth Green, Jamie Kennedy, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper, and James LeGros. The subject matter is made even more relevant by certain governmental activities of today (both real and perceived).
Enemy of the State is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. This alone might make holders of the old edition want to upgrade since it was not enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a 29 minute “Making of” documentary. It has interviews with director Tony Scott, actor Will Smith, actress Regina King, actor Gene Hackman, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, technical advisors Steve Uhrig, Marty Kaiser, and Harry Humphries, actor Jon Voight, actor Jamie Kennedy, actor Barry Pepper, actor Jason Lee, demolition expert Mark Loizeaux, and mechanical effects supervisor Mike Meinardus.
All of these interviews seem to be from 1998 (when the movie was released), however, I really couldn’t date the footage of Tony Scott and was not sure if it was current or from 1998. The next featurette runs 13 minutes and is called “All Access: The Showdown” and focuses on behind the scenes of the final showdown. There are also two deleted scenes. The first runs 43 seconds and is called “Jones gets bitten.” It shows operative Jones getting bitten by Dean’s little white dog when they break into his house. If you look closely when they track Dean to the hotel and are breaking into the Chinese couple’s room, Jones has a bandage on his hand and this is where the bandage came from. The next runs 2 minutes and is a different version of when Dean tries to confront Pintero at his limousine service and is denied entry. Finally there’s the film’s theatrical trailer.
I’ll have to admit, this review is the first time that I’ve seen the film. This edition is labeled an unrated extended cut and runs 140 minutes. The theatrical version ran 132 minutes. So there’s 8 minutes of footage in there somewhere. I noticed on IMDB that it’s rated R for violence and language. Smith and Hackman monitor a Senator’s hotel room and he has some extra curricular activity with his secretary (though there’s not too much nudity) and we see some of it. I would assume that sexuality would’ve been added to violence and language, so maybe that’s where the extra footage is? Most likely they just didn’t resubmit the new cut to the MPAA for rating to tantalize us with the “unrated” moniker.
Gene Hackman as Brill
There are several titles coming from Touchstone/Jerry Bruckheimer that are labeled extended editions (Crimson Tide, ConAir, Gone in Sixty Seconds [this one is labeled a director’s cut], and Coyote Ugly). I have reservations to the fact that none of these are labeled director’s extended editions and I wonder who exactly is “extending” them and what the directors of those features think about it. This appears to be an emerging trend since MGM/Sony recently announced a new line of product called “extended cut.” I wonder how much Tony Scott was involved with this extension since I highly suspect that if he was heavily involved that there would be a director’s commentary (could be wrong about that though). If Bruckheimer/Touchstone/Buena Vista/whoever is just restoring the director’s original cut length then I have no problem, but why wouldn’t they be labeled director’s cuts?
What makes this package more appealing to owner’s of the old edition is the anamorphic enhancement and you should consider an upgrade if that matters to you. This edition also has more special features (the old one had two short featurettes) and a tiny slice of deleted scenes.
Enemy of the State (Unrated Extended Edition) is available for pre-order at Amazon for a May 16th release. As of yet, there isn’t a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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