Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Enemy of the State
Buena Vista Pictures


6.8

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for language and violence

Starring Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Regina King, Stuart Wilson, Barry Pepper, and Ian Hart

A successful lawyer finds himself the target of a treacherous NSA official and his goons after receiving evidence about a politically motivated murder.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	David Marconi
DIRECTED BY:	Tony Scott
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 2, 2002 Video: June 4, 2000 Theatrical: November 16, 1998
RUNNING TIME:	131 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

USA Today Mike Clark

The picture is solidly crafted, performed to the hilt and full of humor.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

An enormously entertaining visit to planet paranoia, but its escapist pleasures titillate only in direct proportion to the degree of persecution complex that you bring into the theater with you.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

It has a hurtling pace, nonstop intensity and a stylish, appealing performance by Will Smith in his first real starring role.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A solid and satisfying commercial venture with more than enough pizazz to overcome occasional lapses in moment-to-moment plausibility.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott have wisely set their course by Will Smith, who is sensational in a dramatic role that leans on him to carry a movie without the help of aliens or Big Willie-style jokes for every occasion.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A kicky, knockout thriller that ingeniously taps into the current climate of paranoia surrounding personal privacy in the Information Age.

San Francisco Examiner Edvins Beitiks

Everything you would want from a Big Brother film: Good-looking, preachy in an Old West kind of way, wobbling between humor and murder, hellbent and periodically brilliant.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

In too much of a hurry to be much of a people picture. And the standoff at the end edges perilously close to the ridiculous, for a movie that's tried so hard to be plausible.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It offers a solid two hours of pure, escapist entertainment.

Entertainment Weekly Staff(not credited)

A high-adrenaline, high-concept action thriller that mixes hot-button issues of privacy and surveillance, easy-to-identify good and bad guys, attention-getting stars, and well-choreographed chase scenes.

Newsweek Jack Kroll

The scary fun of the movie is embodied in a brilliantly filmed and edited chase sequence in which Smith tries to escape the ubiquitous cyber-eyes that see every inch of his flight.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Enemy of the State isn't really a smart film, but it makes a concerted stab at pretending to be one.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

The social criticism is as unforced as the humor (and the references to "The Conversation") in this 1998 conspiracy thriller, whose spirited action is balanced by an almost contemplative attitude toward surveillance phobias and the movie cliches they've spawned.

Variety Emanuel Levy

Sporadically entertaining, though it lacks the kind of political urgency and emotional resonance so crucial to many similarly themed '70s movies.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

This paranoid thriller has all the failings we expect...but Enemy of the State also has enough wit, talent and narrative thrust to mostly transcend those flaws, at least until that ludicrous finish.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

The dazzle doesn't make up, however, for the movie's lack of depth.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Tony Scott's thriller is flashy, but it's not dead stupid and it's never dull.

The New Yorker David Denby

The movie goes like the wind, but it's more a technological exercise than anything else.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie has plenty of high-tech power, spinning out action so explosive you'll hardly notice how preposterous the story is or how cardboard-thin the characters are.

Film Threat Ron Wells

The strong parts are the rip-offs of "The Conversation." The worst part is the lack of understandable character motivations.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A frustrating film that feels cobbled together.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

To say Enemy of the State is senseless is an understatement. This is a movie where logic is the enemy.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

G-Rad A. gave it a10:
Truly a Jerry Bruckheimer masterpiece.

Jared C. gave it a0:
The violence is top notch, the language and dialogue is perfect, the story is great, but the engagement is nothing, I had a blank brain of interest for this film.

raVen gave it an 8:
8 points added for good acting. 2 points subtracted for inspiring Ashcroft.

John O. gave it a 7:
An interesting movie, but not very memorable. It's nice to see veterans like Jon Voight and Gene Hackman on the screen again, though.

Pat C. gave it a 5:
Watchable and forgettable. I sat mesmerized. What was it about?

Rick J. G. gave it a 5:
A flick for the paranoid conspiracy crowd, no doubt. Actually, this movie was my first exposure to the NSA. The movie is a non-stop chase, and it never takes a time out to allow the viewer to get to know the characters. Too bad they couldn't think of a better way to end it than a predictable, lame brain shoutout scene. The ending detracts from the movie more than any other scene.

Enemy of the State Buena Vista Pictures

Enemy of the State
Buena Vista Pictures