“Enemy of the State.” Directed by Tony Scott and written by David Marconi. Running time: 128 minutes. Rated R (for language and violence).

One of the best thrillers of the 1970s was Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,” which featured Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who mistakenly becomes involved in a privacy-violation nightmare.

The film, brilliantly written by Coppola, was effective not only because it dealt with larger issues — particularly, the right to privacy — but because, in Coppola’s capable hands, it wormed itself under your skin by raising one central, paranoid question: What if we all are being bugged?

Twenty-four years later, that same question resurfaces in “Enemy of the State,” a film directed by Tony Scott (“Top Gun”), produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (“Armageddon,” “Con Air”), and co-starring — that’s right — Gene Hackman as a paranoid surveillance expert who eavesdrops on others while living in a bug-proof environment remarkably similar to his hovel in “The Conversation.”

Since this is a Simpson-Bruckheimer production, two men better known for their cliched films than for their great sparks of originality, it should surprise no one that “Enemy of the State” deals in similar, larger issues — specifically, what if there is an underground surveillance society in America monitoring our phone calls for key words such as “president,” “bomb,” “abortion” and “Allah?” Indeed, what if we all are being listened to right now without our knowledge or consent?

Happily — surprisingly — these issues are explored in a thriller that seems to be an atonement for all the garbage Simpson and Bruckheimer have unloaded on us over the years. So please, by all means, do eavesdrop: “Enemy of the State” is good entertainment, a fact that can be directly attributed to its competent script and excellent cast, spearheaded here by Will Smith, who proves he can carry a film.

In “Enemy,” Smith goes to Washington, all right, but he may have wished he’d gone elsewhere. As Robert Clayton Dean, a D.C.-based labor attorney, Smith unwittingly becomes involved in a government cover-up, led by a ruthless NSA official played by John Voight. When Smith’s life is threatened, he’s forced to run, only stopping near film’s end to team up with Hackman in a risky effort to turn the tables on Voight — and, naturally, the government itself.

The result is a smart, briskly paced film whose action and characters are never once played for laughs — reason enough to rejoice in a Simpson-Bruckheimer production.

Grade: B

Videos of the Week

“Armageddon.” “Deep Impact.” Each rated PG-13 (for disaster action, sensuality and language). Running times: 150 minutes and 120 minutes, respectively.

Who would have thought the summer of 1998 would be the vindication of Henny Penny? With “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact” both slamming into theaters, the sky certainly came crashing down — but so did hopes for two terrific films.

It is startling how popular each of these asteroid epics became, particularly “Armageddon,” which berates the senses with throw-away dialogue, a ridiculous premise, poor acting and an even worse script. Only the film’s special effects save it from being truly doomed, but even then, there are moments when the film’s computer animation becomes painfully clear.

Compounding the film’s problems is its misfit cast, led by a testosterone-soaked Bruce Willis, an actor routinely summoned by Hollywood to save the world from pending catastrophe, but who rarely manages to do so without first leaping headfirst into the comfortable — yet unchallenging — womb of stereotype.

Willis, once known for his wit and verve, is increasingly becoming a grim, one-note actor — a note, incidentally, that usually falls flat.

Continuing this gray, grim line is Morgan Freeman in “Deep Impact,” an asteroid film of a different type — it’s been infused not so much with action, but with sentiment. Too much sentiment.

Directed by Mimi Leder, the film ironically could have used some of “Armageddon’s” punch to give it needed energy; there are too many moments when the pace lags. Still, this film is better than “Armageddon” in that it wisely doesn’t take its premise lightly. Indeed, it seems to understand that world salvation should never be entrusted to dim, grunting, comic-book heroes who routinely beat their barrel chests in failed efforts to mask their questionable masculinity — something “Armageddon,” in all its rampant rumbling and considerable debris, is full of.

“Armageddon”: C- “Deep Impact”: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear each Monday in the NEWS. Each Thursday on WLBZ’s “News Center 5:30 Today,” he reviews what’s new and worth renting in video stores.