Breach
Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney
Director: Billy Ray
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Rated: Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language.
Details: Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) is promoted to a job inside FBI headquarters working for respected agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper). Then O’Neill learns his true mission: finding proof that Hanssen has been selling U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union for years.
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My Review: I had initially passed over Breach because of a lack of motivation to see what I thought would a be very interesting but not very exciting movie. But when I saw this coming out on DVD and read that it was a great, underrated thriller I decided to give it a chance and I’m glad I did. This movie is closely based on the true story behind the greatest known security breach in the history of the United States. Robert Hanssen (Cooper) spent over twenty years building a career within the FBI, all the while tearing it apart from within by selling away lives and secrets to the Russian government.
Breach follows the perspective of FBI operative Eric O’Neill (Phillippe) as a young and eager to impress FBI agent-wannabe who is assigned to track and detail Hanssen’s behavior. This is probably my most favorable impression of Phillippe as an actor as he carries on this stressful role and does a pretty good job of conveying the pressure and danger placed upon O’Neill. Laura Linney takes on the role of his FBI superior who tasks him with following and reporting on the suspected spy. She is very convincing as an agent concerned that if she isn’t able to build this case against Hanssen and catch him in the act that he’ll have negated all her years of service. While they were both very good the trophy for top acting undoubtedly goes to Chris Cooper for his role as the traitor. Watching Cooper in this movie is a real treat and he is completely convincing in this portrayal. You can feel the bitterness and paranoia seeping through at all the right times along with the ego and arrogance during his personal highs.
While the storyline won’t provide any surprising turns as you likely know the outcome, and if you don’t the movie opens with John Ashcroft giving the closing details, the movie retains a great sense of thrill and suspense. The weight and intensity placed upon O’Neill’s incredibly important role in this operation provides plenty of exciting scenes. Many of the tense moments were fabricated to sensationalize the story, but several of the best ones were true. I highly recommend this movie as every history amateur and buff alike will appreciate the importance of catching Robert Hanssen and the damage he caused along the way. Luckily you won’t have to be interested in the real life details to appreciate this theme as it stands very well on its own as a thriller. Either way Breach is a great movie with a fascinating story and great acting that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.
My rating: 4/5 stars
High point: Fantastic acting, especially Cooper
Low point: Not enough time to get all the details
I highly recommend reading this article from ChasingTheFrog.com where they compare real events to the movie with commentary from Eric O’Neill himself. However, I’d wait until after the movie because even though you know how it ends it’s fun to see how it gets there. ChasingTheFrog: Breach Movie True Story
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Posted on: Wednesday, June 20, 2007
June 20th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Great review! I actually just saw this movie on a flight last week. I agree with you, that it is worth seeing.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:39 am
Thanks! I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I’ve since tried to convince friends, but I think they’re stuck on the same initial impression I had.
Looks like it’s up to us to spread the good word on this one!
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 am
I don’t believe the great reviews! I found most of this film Boring!!!!!
Also all of the Male Stars looked like they were wearing lipstick, who was the make up artist?
The sound was very poorly recorded and the actors didn’t speak loud enough & even mumbled sometimes. I knew of the actual case and alot of the story just seemed made up for the screen.
C-
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:21 am
We didn’t notice any of the male actors wearing makeup.
I’m surprised you found it so boring. I thought it was a very interesting and entertaining movie.
You should check out the link at the bottom of the review where they interviewed the young agent about what was true and what was made up for Hollywood. That was pretty interesting to see. The whole scene with the PDA was real, but it didn’t play out the exact same way. You should read what happened.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Hi Matt, I appreciate the info. I wish Hollywood would not enhance or change real stories. I’ve seen reviews that Ryan Phillippe dragged the film down etc. I want to say I had no real problem w/any of the Actors. I watched this film with a friend on DVD who agreed exactly w/ me. If you ever have the chance check out Ryan Phillippe & Chris Coopers mouths in close ups it looks absurd with the amount of lipstick they have on. I’ve never seen something like that in any other film. Also both of us had to have the DVD on full volume and about every 3 mins we’d say: What did he say?
We had to rewind many times. I believe the Lipstick & Sound problem was such a distraction it may have colored our review by about 25%. Now I must say I also found “Hunt for Red Oct” boring too & this film for some reason reminded me of it. That doesn’t mean anything if others enjoyed it.
I saw Hansen on 60 minutes and I got the feeling from him was he was an Egotistical & a Nerdy Jerk. Chris Coopers portrayal was well done but it didn’t capture the Hansen I saw. Also I felt this film really made the FBI look great in this whole affair but if I’m not mistaken it was obvious for years that was on the take & no one noticed. Once again I’m sure this affected my feeling about the film.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
That would definitely be frustrating with the audio levels. I was watching the HD-DVD transfer version and it doesn’t seem to suffer from those same issues.
If I had to pick a weak link in the acting chain I’d probably go w/ Phillippe. I didn’t think he was too bad, but rather just outclassed by his co-actors.
I missed the 60 minutes special on Hansen. That would have been very interesting.