Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight) is a Special Adviser from the NSA. He is pushing for passage of a surveillance bill and he kills a congressman to get it. However a wildlife camera set up by Daniel Zavitz captures the murder. He goes on the run and bumps into college acquaintance DC lawyer Robert Dean (Will Smith). He slips Dean the tape and Reynolds directs the NSA to track down Dean. They use all their powers to discredit Dean before he even realizes that he has the tape. His investigator Rachel Banks (Lisa Bonet) directs him to Brill (Gene Hackman) who is a secretive investigator that she uses. He is able to convince his wife Carla (Regina King) but they kill Banks and frame him for the crime. He tracks down Brill who reluctantly helps him. It turns out that Brill was a former NSA agent. The NSA tracks down Brill's hiding place and he's forced to go on the run after blowing the building up.
I like the ideas and the premise of the NSA surveillance. Sometimes Tony Scott pushes too far on the razzmatazz techno gadgets to silliness. He certainly pushes the wild over-the-top tense action which also goes too far at times. I really don't need all the yelling. The story doesn't need it. All the noise and flash bang overwhelms the possible cat and mouse game. Will Smith stays in his character no matter how ridiculous the story gets. I really like his first encounter with Gene Hackman although the story gets a bit too chaotic in the last act.
I like the ideas and the premise of the NSA surveillance. Sometimes Tony Scott pushes too far on the razzmatazz techno gadgets to silliness. He certainly pushes the wild over-the-top tense action which also goes too far at times. I really don't need all the yelling. The story doesn't need it. All the noise and flash bang overwhelms the possible cat and mouse game. Will Smith stays in his character no matter how ridiculous the story gets. I really like his first encounter with Gene Hackman although the story gets a bit too chaotic in the last act.