Will Smith and Gene Hackman teamed up in 1998 for the political action thriller, Enemy of the State. This film was the latest in a series of great action thrillers from director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Crimson Tide), and an original pass of the screenplay was written by Tony Gilroy of the Jason Bourne series.
While overall a critical success, Enemy of the State was initially considered to be more based in science fiction than reality due to the NSA’s far-reaching capabilities in the film. However, the movie is now lauded for being ahead of its time because of recent document leaks that show Scott’s portrayal of the NSA isn’t unwarranted.
Enemy of the State has multiple high-anxiety chase scenes through various environments such as hotels, cities, and warehouses featuring the use of “sci-fi” technology, which posed quite a challenge for the sound team. In today’s You Design scene, we build up to the final shoot-out. As tensions rise between several factions in the story, death becomes inevitable. The sound design matches the constant anxiety throughout the film, and foley is restless and ever-present to capture the sense of the constant movement in attempting to outrun the NSA.