A paranoia/tech thriller that will entertain you. Just suspend a little disbelief, but, hey, you need to do that with nearly all films...

The pic opens with a secret lakeside rendezvous between Congressman Hammersly (Jason Robards) and Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight), a bad guy official of the National Security Agency. Reynolds wants the lawmaker to give up opposition to a bill that would make it easier for the government to spy domestically. When the congressman refuses, Reynolds' goons kill him.

Wouldn't you know that the hit has been inadvertently taped by an automated set-up owned by naturalist Daniel Zavitz (Jason Lee), who is studying geese migration.

At about the same time, yuppie labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is confronting wise guy Pintero (Tom Sizemore) with another video, showing Pintero's illicit involvement with a union. Since such activity is a violation of Pintero's parole, it's all the ammo that Dean needs to get him to back off from the union. Good for Dean, but Pintero wants to know who shot the video. If Dean doesn't come across, he'll be whacked.

By now, Reynolds is aware of the assassination video, and is in hot pursuit of Zavitz, using all the latest high-tech gear. Zavitz is a goner, but he's able to drop the video into one of the shopping bags being carried by Dean! Dean is unaware of this, although he does acknowledge the rushed appearance of Zavitz, a college friend.

Zavitz gets killed in traffic while fleeing the bad guys, and the carnage is observed by Dean. After all this, Dean heads home. His wife, Carla (Regina King), is very concerned about the proposed spy bill, and portrays all the "strong Black woman" stereotypes that 90's moviegoers have become all too familiar with.

The source of the Pintero video is Brill (Gene Hackman) a former NSA operative, and current private eye, who uses Dean's college girl friend, Rachel Banks (Lisa Bonet--looking great) as a go-between.

Reynolds soon discovers that the tape has been passed on to Dean, and the war begins. Using all the weapons in his arsenal, Reynolds manages to ruin Dean's life à la The Net (1995) by messing up his credit cards, and pulling other nasty tricks, including planting bugs all over him. It doesn't take much for Carla to kick him out of the house, especially since it's clear he's doing something with Rachel.

Point of order: Why the heck is Dean married to Carla, anyway, when Rachel appears better in every conceivable way?

No matter. Rachel is connected to Dean, and Rachel gets killed (not by the wise guys, either).

Brill and Dean now must team up to defeat the baddies. At this point, the action really heats up with chases and terrific editing. The surprise ending takes full advantage of the two videos in question (the assassination tape and the wise guy tape).

You'll also get a chill watching the techno nerds go after their prey, as if it were all just a video game, rather than innocent people being sacrificed. And, you'll enjoy the NSA thugs played by second generation Hollywooders Jake Busey and Scott Caan.

One thing, though. Unlike the paranoia movies of the 1970's, the viewer doesn't seem to get personally involved with the paranoia. In that sense, it doesn't feel nearly as ominous, as say, The Parallax View (1974). Maybe we're too jaded these days.

Or maybe, we just don't care, as long as the economy is doing well.