Enredo

A lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a politically motivated crime.

Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a mild-mannered lawyer who works in Washington, D.C. He is on the trail of a kingpin named Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore). Meanwhile, a politician named Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight) is negotiating with Representative Phillip Hammersley (Jason Robards, Jr.) about a new surveillance system with satellites. But, Hammersley declines; Reynolds has Hammersley killed, but the murder is caught on tape, and the taper is chased by Reynolds' team of N.S.A. Agents. The guy must ditch the tape, so he plants it on Dean (unbeknownst to Dean). Then, the N.S.A. decides to get into Dean's life. That is when Dean's life began to fall apart all around him, with his wife and job both gone. Dean wants to find out what is going on. Then, he meets a man named "Brill" (Gene Hackman), who tells him that Dean has something that the government wants. Dean and Brill formulate a plan to get Dean's life back and turn the tables on Reynolds.—John Wiggins

A middle-aged male finds himself in the middle of politician's lawsuit after he is found with critical evidence that could change everything. Everyone who is involved tries everything to get their hands on the evidence before it is too late for everyone and everything.—RECB3

Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is just a successful and gutsy labor lawyer when he runs into an old college friend who was a big hurry. Unbeknownst to him, that friend secretly drops a disc and viewer containing footage of a political assassination overseen by the senior advisor to the National Security Agency. Unfortunately, that politician soon learns what Dean has in his possession and secretly uses the vast resources of the N.S.A. to find, investigate and stop him before he goes public. Soon, Dean finds himself on the run, with his assests frozen, his loved ones watched and actively hunted by N.S.A. Agents using all the survellience technology they have available. Not knowing what is going, Dean must stay one step ahead while trying to figure out the cause of this mess.—Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>

As the U.S. Congress moves to pass new legislation that dramatically expands the surveillance powers of intelligence agencies, Congressman Phil Hammersley remains firmly opposed to its passage. Hammersley believes that the potential benefits of the bill are not worth sacrificing the privacy rights of ordinary citizens for.

To ensure the bill's passage, National Security Agency official & NSA Assistant Director Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight), wanting the bill passed to obtain a promotion, kills Hammersley by injecting a medical substance into his body, and stage his death as a car accident following a heart attack. NSA agents David Pratt (Barry Pepper) and Loren Hicks (Loren Dean) carry out the assassination.

But Reynolds he is unaware of a video camera set up by wildlife researcher Daniel Zavitz (Jason Lee) that has captured the entire incident. Reynolds and his team spot Zavitz swapping out a tape from a remote wildlife camera stationed near the murder scene.

Labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean works on a case involving restaurant owner and mob boss Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore). Paulie had been controlling the union leadership and leaning on the labor union workers to sign a contract that was detrimental to their interests. Dean occasionally hires "Brill", a man whom he has never met in person, to conduct surveillance operations. Dean is never in direct contact with Brill, and works with him through Rachel Banks, who happens to be Dean's ex-girlfriend. Brill's fees vary with the risk of the job and Banks takes a 15% commission from the same. Brill obtains a tape incriminating Pintero for a parole violation as he was specifically prohibited from meeting any union officials. Dean threatens Pintero with the tape to ensure that the mobster agrees to a favorable settlement (and let the union workers vote on the contract as per their constitutional right) and leaves a copy. Pintero is not happy at being blackmailed and wants to know who made the tape, but Dean says that he doesn't know, which is the truth.

Zavitz discovers the murder, and alerts an underground journalist, at the same time transferring the video to an innocuous computer disc. Reynolds learns of Zavitz's footage and sends a team to recover the video. The team includes NSA Agent Fiedler (Jack Black), a surveillance analyst and 2 USMC veteran and NSA field operatives Jones (Scott Caan) and Krug (Jake Busey). While fleeing, Zavitz runs into an old college friend, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith). Zavitz secretly passes the computer disc into Dean's shopping bag without his knowledge. Zavitz flees and is killed when hit by a fire truck. Reynolds soon has the underground journalist killed.

Looking for the disc, Reynolds' team identifies Dean and visits him disguised as cops. When Dean refuses to let them search his belongings without a warrant, the agents erroneously believe that he is knowingly withholding the disc. They break into Dean's house while his family and he are out, and plant bugs in his clothes and personal effects. Unable to find the video, the NSA proceeds to falsely implicate Dean of passing classified information to Rachel Banks (Lisa Bonet), a former girlfriend. They also disseminate false evidence that Dean is laundering money through his firm for Pintero and having an affair with Rachel Banks (Dean's ex-girlfriend and Brill's courier).

The subterfuge destroys Dean's life: he is dismissed from his job, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife throws him out of the house. Trailed by the NSA, Dean meets with Banks, who sets up a meeting with "Brill" (Gene Hackman), one of her secret contacts. After meeting an NSA agent posing as Brill, Dean realizes his error, only to have the real Brill, retired NSA agent Edward Lyle, ferry him to temporary safety and help rid Dean of most of the tracking devices he is unwittingly carrying. Dean ultimately rids himself of the final device and, fleeing his pursuers, escapes.

With Dean and Lyle in hiding, the NSA agents kill Banks and frame Dean for the murder. Dean finds the disc and shows it to Brill, who identifies Reynolds. The NSA agents raid Brill's hideout. Brill and Dean escape, but the disc is destroyed in a car fire.

It is then revealed that Lyle was an expert in communications for the NSA. He was stationed in Iran before the Iranian Revolution. When the revolution occurred, Lyle made it out of the country, but his partner, Rachel's father, was killed. Lyle escaped and has been working covertly ever since, employing Rachel as a courier to watch over her. Since then, he has been in hiding. Lyle tries to coax Dean into trying to run away, but Dean is adamant about clearing his name.

Dean and Lyle blackmail another supporter of the surveillance bill, Congressman Sam Albert (Stuart Wilson), by videotaping him having an affair with his aide. Dean and Lyle "hide" bugs that Reynolds had used on Dean in Albert's room so Albert will find them and have the NSA start an investigation. Lyle also deposits $140,000 into Reynolds' bank account to make it look like he is being paid to blackmail Albert.

A meeting is arranged with Reynolds to exchange the video so he can be tricked into incriminating himself. Reynolds' men instead ambush the meeting and hold Lyle and Dean at gunpoint, demanding the tape. Dean lies, saying that the evidence is hidden at Pintero's restaurant, which is under FBI surveillance. Reynolds demands "the tape" from Pintero, who is tricked into believing that Reynolds is demanding the evidence of the parole violation. The encounter escalates into a firefight when a gangster shoots an NSA agent in the back. Pintero, his men, Reynolds, and almost all of his agents are killed. Meanwhile, Lyle sends the FBI a live feed of the incident to trigger a raid on the restaurant before escaping in disguise. Dean is rescued, the survivors are arrested, and the conspiracy is exposed.

To avoid scandal, Congress abandons the bill, while the NSA executes a cover-up of Reynolds' actions. Dean is cleared of all charges and reconciles with Carla. Lyle sends Dean a message via his TV, showing himself relaxing on a tropical island with his cat.