Review

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, known for his explosive if none-too-smart action films (Con Air, Top Gun, etc.), reteams with director Scott (Crimson Tide) for this exciting political thriller -- and fortunately they had the good sense to cast Smith as the Everyman running for his life. The engaging Smith is Robert Dean, a wily lawyer who is forced to use all his wiles when government goons mistake him for an agent with damaging evidence against their covert syndicate. Dean then spends the rest of the film dashing in and out of trouble in tense, even plausible cat and mouse games. He gets a little help from a reclusive surveillance expert (Hackman in another saving-grace supporting turn) who teaches him a few tricks in the book. The film starts a little slow in setting up the game, but once the game's afoot, Enemy of the State is an often crackerjack espionage tale. It may bear the noisy trademarks of Bruckheimer's action flicks, but it also knows how to get the pulse racing.