Tony Scott (Ridley's brother) has made a name for himself directing "guy" movies filled with testosterone. "Top Gun," "Crimson Tide," "Days of Thunder," "The Last Boy Scout"... even when he decides to get romantic, it's from a Quentin Tarantino script like "True Romance," or movies where guys get to be badasses like Kevin Costner in "Revenge." Still, you can't take away Tony Scott's (perhaps excessive) style as a director. He knows how to use the camera, he knows how to use quick-cuts (he's been doing it since Michael Bay was directing commercials for local used car dealerships), and he knows how to keep a film moving. One thing you WON'T be in a Tony Scott movie is bored.
He collected a lotta familiar faces for this movie. I mean, you have the obvious headliners like Will Smith and Gene Hackman, but even the small roles are played by people you've seen before. Here's a list: Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Regina King (remember Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s wife in "Jerry Maguire"?), Jason Robards, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper (remember "Private Jackson," the sniper guy in "Saving Private Ryan"?) Jake Busey, Jason Lee (you know, that funny guy who was in "Mallrats" and as Ben Affleck's buddy and the inker for the comic book in "Chasing Amy"), Gabriel Byrne, James LeGros, and even Seth Green (the redheaded guy who was a hip-hop homie g. in "Can't Hardly Wait," and he's now in the TV show, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"... actually, he's everywhere now). I don't know how or why, but they're all in this movie. Everywhere you look, a familiar face. I dunno, maybe I just watch too many movies.
Interesting note: There's a part where you see the boom mic in the shot. And in an amazing coincidence, when that shot takes place, and you can see the boom mic, the guy talking in the shot actually uses the word "boom." Cool, innit?
"Enemy of
the State" was written by David Marconi, whose prior work is as the writer
and director of a movie called "The Harvest," which I never saw. It's a
good script handled by a really good director, with a really good cast (Will
Smith wasn't even that annoying), and the result is a really good movie.