its great to see Hackman reprise he operative character from `` the conversation '' .  the point of this film as to how far along we be towards `` 1984 '' and `` Big Brother '' be perhaps indicate by we lack of alarm about it . its interesting what the situational awareness the Feds can gain by have a emittor on the Will Smith character , its instructive conceptually as to how you could steer yourself and other unit to intercept or stay close without get too close . but this technology be show to collapse when the sensor be not `` cheating '' by the emittor and have to use line-of-sight collection mean to stay in contact with they prey in a cluttered urban environment . if you watch the film conceptually as a demonstration of military and possibly totalitarean technology its worth 4 star . if you watch it for entertainment and plausibility it lack realism since if the corrupt Feds want the Will Smith character 's tape they would have barge in , kill he and make it look like something else . of course there would be no film and chase then .  we should reject violently these `` reality '' tv show where such totalitarean surveillance means be take in jest like its a mere popularity contest : if you become a `` enemy of the state '' you get vote to be `` banish '' might not be a laughing matter .