Enemy of the State

If you think you're being watched while reading this, you're probably right.

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Here's what I've been watching and playing over the last seven days...

MOVIES

Enemy of the State

Movie summary: A lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a politically motivated crime. (IMDb)

How much you enjoy Enemy of the State might well depend on how much the stupid decision the main antagonist makes irritates you when it happens.

To explain: the NSA are unsure if labour lawyer Robert Dean (Will Smith) was passed a package containing a video of a US congressman being murdered by the NSA, under the direction of Jon Voight's Reynolds.

To begin with, they break into his house and plant a load of bugs to keep track of Dean and if he indeed has the incriminating video.

Then, for no real reason, Reynolds suddenly becomes super impatient about the video still not being recovered and tells his staff to ruin Dean's life.

This sets up a game of cat-and-mouse that lasts the rest of the movie and ends up with loads of people dead in a spectacularly powerful, chaotic shootout.

I understand Reynolds' desire to retrieve the footage as it would certainly land him in prison, but it does make the initial decision to spy on Dean and the entire sequence setting up said surveillance feel somewhat pointless in retrospect.

And this choice to randomly decide "screw surveillance, ruin this guy" is the key hinge of the movie and how much this random choice to escalate matters is what I think will determine how much you like Enemy of the State.

Because, outside of this moment, the rest of the film is really, really good - a fantastic, non-stop thriller where, even 10 minutes from the end, you're still wondering how the hell Dean and his roped-in ally, Brill (Gene Hackman) are possibly going to come out on top.

Honestly, this is such a well-made movie, that I'd still recommend watching it even if the description of the weird choice from Reynolds above sounds like something that might put you off.

For starters, you'd be missing out on a fantastic performance from Gene Hackman, who effectively takes over the film once he shows up.

Secondly, Will Smith is pretty damn good too - it's rare to see a big name play a main role in an 'action-thriller' like this and be pretty much clueless, on the back foot, or both for almost the entire story.

Enemy of the State also feels rather prescient about how governments watch the people of their country and just think that the technology used to follow Dean - if you disregard the 'Hollywood' UIs - was probably out of date when the film released and then wonder about how you're most likely being tracked right now.

Aside from a highly questionable decision by the antagonist, Enemy of the State is a very good film with some brilliant actors performing brilliantly, and Gene Hackman the best of them all (obviously). [7/10]

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

And so the story that begins in The Phantom Menace finally comes to a close - the fall, rise and sacrifice of Anakin Skywalker.

I can't say 'redemption', as there's no forgiving some of the horrors he perpetrated as Darth Vader, but he was at least on his way.

Also, it's still jarring just how much more comedic and child-centred this movie is - it's a long, long way from the exhausting constant dread of something like Andor.

GAMES

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Still slowly making my way through and still of the opinion that, while it is a good game and I'm still enjoying it, I continue to not see what all the fuss was about.

Batman: Arkham City

Just to explain why this keeps cropping up in the 'Also currently playing' section: I really love how Catwoman moves and fights in this game, so just keep taking her through the combat challenges because it's so much fun - I'd love a full game with her as the main character!

Also currently playing: Hitman: World of Assassination, Poker Night at the Inventory, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

TV

No new TV show started this week, because now the original Star Wars trilogy has been re-watched again, it's time to press on into the future and my first time watching The Mandalorian (and yes, the trailers for The Mandalorian & Grogu have done nothing for me so far as I have no idea what the hell is going on).

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