#DavidMarconi

[adamwatchesmovies]

Enemy of the State (1998)

You’ll have to swallow a whole lot of ridiculous operations and technology to believe Enemy of the State. Well, I say get yourself a big glass of water and get ready to massage your throat. This suspense thriller is worth suspending your disbelief for.

Labor attorney Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) has his life turned upside down when an old acquaintance slips him an encoded disc capturing the murder of a congressman by NSA official Thomas Bryan Reynolds (Jon Voight). The problem is he doesn’t know he has the video. When his bank accounts are frozen, his name smeared in the newspapers, he loses his job and his marriage, he has no idea why. Bugged and dogged by a government who is convinced he knows more than he lets on, he has no choice but to go on the run.

I’m going to do what I should have done from the beginning and address the technology and the contrived plot so we can move on. In this world, all security cameras shoot in 1080P, are always on, are as accessible as public libraries, and are powered by magic. At one point, a computer analyzes Robert's bag, compares it to the one he had been holding a second ago, uses the shadows and its shape to emphasize the differences by generating a rotating 3-D model - all from a stationary camera. You also have to believe everyone hired by the NSA are robots that follow orders no matter what - including murder. In that case, why didn’t they just skip the part where they weave all of these elaborate lies, wait until Robert was at home with his family, cut the phone line, enter through the front door and force him to find the video at gunpoint?

Once you get past that, Enemy of the State is successful. The villains are despicable and you hate them, so you want more than anything to see the conspiracy they’ve woven torn down and their dirty deeds exposed. But how? The odds are stacked so high against Dean you have no idea how he’ll get out of this jam. Actually, there's hope because he's smart. Sometimes it takes him a little bit to wrap his mind around what is going on, but when the plot requires him to run and improvise, he does it well. With his quick wit and an ally that comes in later (I hesitate to say who because it would give things away, but if you’re dying to know his name is on the movie poster), if someone can get through this mess, it’s them. I’m not saying it’s a great film, but as a rental, or something you watch on a lazy Sunday, it checks the boxes you want it to.

Enemy of the State would've been a better - I'd even dare say “important” - film if it was more realistically done and took itself more seriously, particularly when we consider how much of our activities CAN be surveilled today. As is, however, it certainly entertains, it makes the 132-minute running time feel like nothing, and the ending is terrific. I can’t recommend it highly but I'd certainly watch it again. (On VHS, February 13, 2016)

[twotrey23]

#JackieChan @jackiechan with #TheForeigner @foreignermovie #director #MartinCampbell & #screenwriter #DavidMarconi at the #film 's press day today. #legend #actor #actors #acting #directors #directing #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmmakers #producer #cinema #movies #movie🎬 #films #movie (at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills)

[woehasjoined]

hamzakadriofficial MEMORIES...💙 C'était en 2012 avec la magnifique Jaimie Alexander sur le tournage du film franco-américain "Collision" réalisé par #davidmarconi - Produit par #lucbesson @jaimiealexander #hamzakadri #hamzakadrifans #europacorp #lucbesson #diskhyati #photographers #collision #intersections #serietv #actor #salamhoub #marrakech #maroc #comingsoon #ramadan2018 #cinema #acting #goodmorning #love #team #photographie #photographer #classy #sunny #day #jaimiealexander #dream #rêve

[mcvcm]

The way screening parties should be done w @mrboroberts #chefwilliam @thejessicakill Very special thank you to director/writer #davidmarconi for sharing HIS cut of #collision

[twotrey23]

Agenda part 1 today: #TheForeigner @foreignermovie press day. #JackieChan @jackiechan #MartinCampbell #DavidMarconi #film #cinema #movies #films #movie #movie🎬 (at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills)