Breach Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)February 15th, 2007
BREACH
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
BREACH, an absolutely fascinating and completely engrossing tale by director Billy Ray (SHATTERED GLASS), has extra punch, since this enthralling espionage story is based on a true story. Robert Hanssen, who is said to have been the "worst spy in American history," fed top secrets to the Soviets for twenty-two years until he was apprehended in early 2001.
The movie starts with a video clip of Attorney General Ashcroft announcing his arrest and then cuts to two month earlier when the final phase of the investigation into Hanssen's treachery begins. A much earlier large scale attempt to find the mole failed because Hanssen himself led the search.
The hyper-religious Hanssen is played brilliantly by Chris Cooper (ADAPTATION). Hanssen, the ex-head of the Soviet intelligence bureau of the FBI, is a Catholic who wears his belief on his sleeve. His sparse office is adorned with a crucifix on the wall and a catechism and a Virgin Mary statuette on the desk. And his universal advice to his new "clerk," an up-and-coming would-be agent named Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), is to "pray more." Hanssen sees God as the answer to everything, and church is part of Hanssen's daily ritual. He firmly believes that it was atheism that caused the downfall of the Soviet empire. A guy who would never be caught smiling, Hanssen is an IT geek and a general know-it-all who is always the smartest guy in the room.
Well, as it turns out, brains and loyalty to one's country can be very different things. The consistently excellent Laura Linney plays FBI agent Kate Burroughs, who is O'Neill's handler. She assigns him to work for and spy on Hanssen, telling O'Neill that Hanssen is a sexual deviant. Of course, since the film opens with the charge of treason against Hanssen, we know he is more than a sexual deviant, which he is as well. At first O'Neill comes to respect the wise old man he is working for, until, that is, he learns what is really going on.
The soft-spoken film manages to have plenty of surprises along the way even if we do know the conclusion. The supporting cast adds much of the complexity, nuances and potential twists. Juliana (Caroline Dhavernas), O'Neill's wife, for example, is an East German, which may or may not mean something; Hanssen's wife Bonnie (Kathleen Quinlan) is way too much of a goodie-two-shoes; and Dennis Haysbert (one of the presidents in "24") plays an agent heading up a team to dig into every aspect of Hanssen's life. Phillippe (FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS), not one of Hollywood's stronger actors, gives an especially good rendition of an inexperienced guy who has to think as fast as he can as he tries to outfox a veteran of the deception game. The battle of wits between the two of them is consistently engaging and mesmerizing.
BREACH runs 1:50. It is rated PG-13 for "violence, sexual content and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, February 16, 2007. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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