History Film / EnemyOfTheState

* PlotTriggeringDeath: Zavitz's death kickstarts the rest of the plot.
* PostNineElevenTerrorismMovie: And one that came out [[HarsherInHindsight three years]] ''[[HarsherInHindsight before]]'' [[HarsherInHindsight 9/11]]. A modern viewer watching the film without knowing its year of release would probably assume it was a political thriller made as a heavy-handed reaction to the events in question, and would likely be surprised to learn it was released in the late 90s.

* SecretMessageWink: Dean gives one of these to Brill when he tells him near the end, "Watch out for the FBI." Brill shows he understands by winking back.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/TheConversation'', to the point it's not hard to assume that Creator/GeneHackman's characters in both movies are the same person. The scene where Dean and Rachel meet to discuss Brill on a park and the NSA goons try to listen in to their conversation is essentially an updated version of the older film's opening scene.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The "National Security Agency (NSA) is SinisterSurveillance incarnate" sub-section of this trope is what fuels the whole plot.

* AdultFear: The government effectively ruining your life and knowing ''everything'' about you, even following you around with satellite surveillance.

* BigBad: Thomas Reynolds.

** After his last mission went wrong, Brill presumably became to his family, though it's left unsure if he any children.
** [[spoiler:On the above mentioned mission, Rachel's father and Brill's partner died when she was a child.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained'')as congressman Albert's mistress and Creator/IvanaMilicevic; (''Banshee'') as one of the models in the lingerie store.

** One mook wears a plastic raincoat identical to one worn in ''Film/TheConversation'' as an added allusion.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and Creator/IvanaMilicevic; (''Banshee''), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* ChekhovsGun: The lingerie Dean bought for his wife. When it comes up later in the film it is initially played as a BrickJoke, but it hints Dean to the fact that it was at the lingerie store where [[spoiler:Zavitz dropped the incriminating footage in Dean's shopping bag.]]

* {{Cameo}}: [[spoiler:Used to good effect (provided you haven't seen the trailer) when Creator/GabrielByrne briefly appears, pretending to be Brill.]]

* WrongfullyAccused: Dean. After he's framed for murder.

* TakeOffYourClothes: Brill asks this to Dean in order to search for bugs. Eventually he does... [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments to the enjoyment of an Asian lady.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and IvanaMiličević (''Banshee''), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and Creator / IvanaMiličević (''Banshee''), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and Creator/IvanaMiličević (''Banshee''), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and Ivana Miličević (''Banshee''), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and Ivana Miličević (''Series/Banshee''), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (''Film/DjangoUnchained''), congressman Albert's mistress and Ivana Miličević ([[Banshee]]), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette ([[Django Unchained]]), congressman Albert's mistress and Ivana Miličević ([[Banshee]]), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Features Laura Cayouette (Django Unchained) , congressman Albert's mistress and Ivana Miličević (Banshee), one of the models in the lingerie store.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Zavitz only had a minor, but got the evidence that showed Reynolds and his men killing Hammersly. And he put the copy inside Dean's bag...

* YourCheatingHeart:
** Dean had an affair with Rachel four years prior, which led him and Carla to go to counseling to resolve the problem.
** [[spoiler:The congressman is having an affair with his aide even though he's married.]]

** Later in the film, [[spoiler: Dean more or less calls the FBI on the NSA, via leading the latter into a Mafia-owned restaurant the Feds happen to be surveiling.]]

* DeadMansTriggerFinger: The BlastOut at the climax begins when, [[spoiler:after Pintero, Reynolds and their respective goons [[MexicanStandoff pull guns on each other]], Krug comes out of cover to order Pintero's men to stand down withhis SMG, gets blown away from behind by a cook with a double-barreled shotgun, and starts blasting in his death throes.]]

''Enemy of the State'' is a 1998 [[ConspiracyThriller spy-thriller]] film directed by Creator/TonyScott, written by David Marconi, and produced by Creator/JerryBruckheimer. The film stars Creator/WillSmith, Creator/GeneHackman, Creator/JonVoight, Lisa Bonet, Tom Sizemore, and Creator/ReginaKing.

* BadassGrandpa: Brill, a former intelligence agent.