"enemy of the state" received 71% positive reviews on the film-critics aggregator rotten tomatoes, with 84 critics surveyed. the site's consensus is; "an entertaining, topical thriller that finds director tony scott on solid form and will smith confirming his action headliner status." metacritic displayed a normalized ranking of 67 out of 100 on the basis of 22 critics. kenneth turan of the "los angeles times" expressed enjoyment in the movie, noting how its "pizazz [overcame] occasional lapses in moment-to-moment plausibility;" janet maslin of "the new york times" approved of the film's action-packed sequences, but cited how it was similar in manner to the rest of the members of "simpson's and bruckheimer's school of empty but sensation-packed filming." in a combination of the two's views, edvins beitiks of the "san francisco examiner" praised many of the movie's development aspects, but criticized the overall concept that drove the film from the beginning—the efficiency of government intelligence—as unrealistic.