6. Enemy of the State (1998)
So we all assume that in those movies from the Cold War era those covert operations were for our own good, governments must overcome enemies for the greater good, and national security outweighs personal privacy. Well, here's Exhibit A for the defeat of that idea: in the late Tony Scott's homage to the wrong-man on the run movie, Will Smith is passed, unknowingly, footage of an assassination of a congressman by a fellow politician (played with great sliminess by Jon Voight). Smith seeks the aid of a covert expert in the shape of Gene Hackman's Brill to help him figure out the conspiracy. As it turns out, in full on Dick Cheney mode, the murderous politician wanted to pass a bill increasing national surveillance with the unlucky congressman standing in the way. Released a full three years before the Patriot Act was signed, this Average Joe vs. Spy movie would prove to be chillingly prophetic in a post-9/11 world. As Voight's character coldly states "the only real privacy left is inside your head..."