This in some ways is a high-tech update to The Conversation, with a Harry Caul-like character making an appearance who is just a bit older and under a different name. More actions and shootins and even a big explosion, but still kinda like a long-awaited sequel to that story. Plus there’s both dogs AND a cat. That seems to make a difference on watchability, at least for some. Even though the one dog is a little shit assho dog. Why? WHY? Fuckin little barky assho dogs are the bigger mystery to me here.
Will Smith plays a character that’s a lawyer that is Will Smith. He’s working a big mob case in the D.C. area, and inadvertently gets pulled into a bigger scenario by total chance meeting with Earl. We know the Gubmint is involved as we watch from both angles. Stakes are raised steadily throughout as Smith tries to figure out why the fuck every Tom, Dick and Jake Busey is out to get him.
This is Snazzy. Stylish. Tense. Action-packed. But still some pretty boilerplate plottenings from A to B to C of some conspiracy theory kinds of stuff played out in real fictional life. This is some high tech surveillance kinda shit for the day (a whole 25 years ago, haha. Think about your cell phone [if you even had one] in 1998. First gen iPhones weren’t til like 2007.), and the Harry Caul character (played again by a curmudgeonly Gene Hackman) is like, yeah, this tech is like already 20 years old then. Huh! But overall, it’s a good popcorn flick with some extra provocatives to it.
