The mid-1990s were HBO's heyday as Clintonesque liberals and they took it upon themselves to present this sort of viewpoint in nearly all of their productions. This one is no exception.It's saved by the fact that it's a tremendously literate story from the great screenwriter Rod Serling, and it has Forrest Whitaker in top form. The typical HBO heavy-handed preachiness is kept to a minimum here and the intrigue is maximized, of course with some rather tough to fathom plot maneuvers concerning the Soviets, in this case as allies of a sort.It's not as fine a film as the original Seven Days in May, but it's not a waste either and it's always good to see Whitaker in his usual good form with Sam Waterston doing more subtly nuanced acting than he's allowed to do on Law & Order.

You need to see Seven Days in May before seeing this movie or before posting an opinion on it. This movie is really a poor remake of it. The former occurs in a tense cold-war America and the Black & White photography adds to the eerie feel. (Black and White, just like the general sees things.) If after seeing the original, you wish to compare, then see this one. I made the mistake of viewing this first, and then I enjoyed the original less than I should have. I guess the only positive difference that this movie added to the story is that the high-stakes players were not all white men in "The Enemy Within" with other characters in predictable roles. The Enemy within has women and black men in high positions. It also wraps a family around the main character to make him elicit more empathy. Every actor in this made-for-HBO thriller needs to be forgiven for needing a paycheck.

I have seen the original Seven Days in May no fewer than 15 times. I know, I need to get a life. However, the original cast of Lancaster, Douglas, March, Gardner, Houseman, Duggan, etc. was pure magic. The tension was palpable,and the chemistry was awesome.That being said, The Enemy Within was a light, or lite, version of the original. Could there be more of a mis-casting than putting poor old Jason Robards as the Joint Chiefs Chairman. He looked like he had oatmeal drooling on his bib. Don't get me wrong, he was a very fine actor, and perhaps he could have pulled it off when he was twenty or thirty years younger.The rest of the cast with the exception of the sultry Dana Delaney was weak. The plot was John Kerryesque nuanced. The ending was farcical.I enjoy the idea of remaking fine older movies. Perhaps George Clooney can pull it off, as he did with the remake of Failsafe. However, The Enemy Within comes across as a poor man version of a classic thriller.

The thing about this movie being implausible is not a very good comment. The truth about this movie is that it could happen in America and probably has come close to happening several times in the past. What this movie says is that anything can happen and how fragile democracy in America truly is. We don't really appreciate something until it is lost. I hope that we do not have to experience the events of this movie to truly appreciate it. What has happened recently in America only goes to prove that the movie has a point. What is really scary is what would happen when the president is in on it. The movie really gives you something to think about.