Watching the Conversation makes one realize how much US film-making has changed since the 70's, particularly when you compare it to Enemy of the State, the 1998 Will Smith vehicle. Both movies deal about the threatening aspects of a society obsessed by surveillance. In both movies, Gene Hackman plays the role of a top professional surveillance man, possibly the same character. The 1998 movie is fast, thrilling, violent, colorful. The Conversation is slow, relatively calm and uneventful (only the last scenes are violent and a little gory) and the cinematography is ice-cold. Enemy of the State stars an energetic, young, handsome, positive black hero (with a loving family). The Conversation hero is a tedious, 40ish, moderately sexy, unsympathetic white man, unable to develop normal relationships with people. The 1998 movie involves a large scale conspiracy, while the 1974 one deals with an intimate one. The 1998 movie is formulaic and follows the usual `wrongfully accused man' pattern. The 1974 movie has a complex plot and characters who actually interact with each other. Enemy of the State is fun to watch, plays with the modern viewer's knowledge of movie clichés, and it delivers two hours of good entertainment. The Conversation is less fun to watch, a little self-conscious, but it certainly leaves the hero, and most spectators, in a state of shock.
Review of The Conversation
