A Wild Ride
Rating: 10 of 10 
Let all your paranoia, all your worst dreams come true - all your nightmares of surveillance and shadow government. This movie is a rough ride, even more fast-paced and more radical than 'Conspiracy Theory'. Also the amout of technical gimmickry exceeds everything previously seen: And we are presented with an utterly disturbing and unnerving version of reality.
The brave new world portrayed here is that of technological capabilities making it possible to tear the life of a human being completely apart and to supervise every move; technology intended to be used to preserve the state and the welfare of the country - not to be used against it. And so the critical point is again the human factor: The same old story, but with stakes raised much higher.
Will Smith plays his role with vigor and believability, Gene Hackman as forcefully and spooky as ever. But despite a running time exceeding two hours easily, the movie never gets boring. Interesting also how easily the luck changes and the hunters become the hunted. And again, technobabble becomes irrelevant, is merely a tool, a factor in the equation: Finally, it is a story about not giving up, about resisting a seemingly invincible adversary - about facing fate and vigorously fighting it. Behind the machinery there are still human beings: Not at all almighty but as vulnerable as everybody else.
December 29th, 1998
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