Enemy of the State (1998) review

D.C. lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) unknowingly lands himself in a heap of trouble when a former Georgetown classmate Daniel Leon Zavitz (Jason Lee) tosses into his shopping bag a NEC Turbo Express containing a floppy disk that has footage on it of Congressman Hammersley (Jason Robards) being murdered by National Security Agency Assistant Director Reynolds (Jon Voight), and then the NSA bugs Dean's clothing and home and proceeds to destroy his career ... that is, until he makes contact with paranoid analyst "Brill" (Gene Hackman) who helps clear his name.  What's impressive about this is how it predates the information later brought forth by Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning regarding the "secret operations" of agencies that actively spy on their citizens, except director Scott (working off a script by David Marconi) can't stop with the cinematic razzle-dazzle (check out those overhead shots and satellite images!) and rapid editing, perhaps to conceal how schlocky it is ... and worst of all is the "showdown" that "wraps it up" between government employees and mob boss Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore) in an Italian eatery: just let the fools wipe each other out (that was easy!).  The cast is stacked - Jack Black, Scott Caan, Lisa Bonet, Barry Pepper, Gabriel Byrne etc. have small roles - although it takes a full hour for Hackman's character to pop in like a reclusive MacGyver to explain the madness to a rather naïve Smith (in an early "serious" role).