Sonia Kennebeck’s documentary thriller Enemies of the State parcels out her discoveries in a manner that manipulates viewers’ sentiments about the situation.

| Jul 28, 2024

The endeavor to craft a balanced account is inconsistently displayed, and despite the handsome filmmaking, leaves one empty.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 5, 2022

It provides more questions than answers, but this documentary spins a fascinating true-life yarn about injustice, paranoia, dark secrets, and conspiracy theories.

| Sep 10, 2021

People who don't mind open-ended conclusions to a movie will probably like this documentary more than people who expect mysteries to be solved by the end of the film. The movie keeps viewers guessing on who's really telling the truth.

| Aug 11, 2021

For those who have difficulty holding two or more contradictory ideas at the same time-how one thing can be true but not another-your head is about to explode watching the labyrinthine Enemies of the State.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 5, 2021

It takes some active viewing, but leaning toward the screen to parse a detailed narrative is always better than leaning back and dozing off.

| Aug 5, 2021

The result is an extraordinary, unsettling documentary that's just as much about DeHart's devoted parents-former Army linguists who became convinced of their son's persecution by the FBI-as it is about a young hacker and information activist...

| Jul 30, 2021

This is a white-knuckle ride all the way.

| Jul 30, 2021

An exquisitely thorny investigation for these times, when transparency is most needed, obfuscation reigns, and our ability to process today's reality is more fraught than ever.

| Jul 30, 2021

A frenetic and thrilling exposé about how a teen anarchist became America's worst nightmare.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 30, 2021

What's true and what's not about the case of Matt DeHart gets hazier with each subsequent revelation in this too-often cluttered film.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 30, 2021

At times you side with DeHart. Other times you side with the prosecution. Eventually, you side with no one.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 30, 2021

Enemies of the State is not just dull, but it's a platform for fabricated stories that obstruct and allude from the big picture.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 30, 2021

While what is alleged from both sides is abhorrent, Enemies of the State is all over the place, to the point of confusion.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 30, 2021

[It] forces us to consider how the rules, the style, and the craft of a documentary can obscure more than it actually reveals.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 30, 2021

Enemies of the State tells one of those stories with so many twists and turns that you feel like your head is spinning after a while. I love documentaries like this, and it's a good one.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 30, 2021

In what amounts to essentially a spy thriller minus the star power, "Enemies of the State" sends mixed signals about the way misinformation clogs the airwaves and paints a confusing picture.

| Original Score: C | Jul 29, 2021

The questions it raises are fascinating.

| Jul 29, 2021

Serves less as a work of investigative journalism than as a fascinating object lesson in how easy it can be to mislead without ever actually lying.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 27, 2021

The film's concession to the fungible nature of presented reality comes across not as indecisive but courageous.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 25, 2021