Breach (Widescreen Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Breach (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Not what I expected...
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw the previews for this film at the beginning of a different one, and immediatly wanted to see it although I really didn't know what it was about: I don't even remember realizing that it was based on a true story.
I personally don't think that this film is the typical 'spy' film; it's certainly loads different than any James Bond movie, and a far cry from any of the Bourne movies either. This isn't a bad thing: it's just a different thing. Some of the reviewers claimed that the film is to slow or boring, but I think that those reviewers have completely missed the point of the film - and the man that the film is about.
After I watched the film I did a little of my own research on Robert Hanssen and found that even where the film might not have followed his story exactly (Hanssen never actually came over to the O'Neill's house, O'Neill's not the one who actually downloaded information from Hanssen's PDA, et. al.) it still does an excellent job of just stretching the events enough to make them a little more exciting without actually creating something altogether different (Hanssen and O'Neill had apparently planned to go for dinner, but it would have been after Hanssen was arrested, and Hanssen DID ask O'Neill if he'd gone through his bag after the information had been downloaded by people that O'Neill had brought the PDA to - and had nearly not gotten it back in the bag on time).
I also like how key phrases were inserted, even though we might not have noticed. Early on in the film Hanssen tells O'Neill something like "[he'll piss purple if Hanssen ever catches [O'Neill] in his office again]." In real life, it was hearing this phrase (that Hanssen often said) on a tape that the FBI got from an ex-KGB member that helped them realize that the mole they were looking for was actually Hanssen, not a different individual who they had suspected.
The crimes that Hanssen committed were not full of action and drama. As the film shows, Hanssen would simply put information in Hefty plastic bags and leave them at drop points for the Russians to pick up. He wasn't intested in a lot of money because he knew that if he'd spend big hunks of money all of a sudden, people would be onto him. To put too much action and drama into this film would be to misunderstand the story.
Hanssen did do things that could be deemed slightly socially defective, like run people into walls, copiers, etc., when he'd walk with someone, as is depicted in the film. All the little isms about who Hanssen was/is are what make the film: not action and drama. I think that Chris Cooper portrays Hanssen brilliantly, and Phillippe does an excellent job with O'Neill.
Overall an excellent film, I'm looking forward to watching it again!
Movie Review: I appreacited the way the movie doesn't provide a pat answer about Hanssen's motivations
Summary: 5 Stars
While all movies based on historical subjects must fictionalize events and compress timelines, it is how they do so that matters. Do they still tell the underlying truth of the story? Do they distort the substance of the story? Do they dumb it down so much that it transforms the story into something else? If it does any of these things, I tend to dislike it to the extent it does so. While this movie does make up scenes that never happened and puts actions into the hands of people that didn't do them, it still tells the truth of the story quite well for a Hollywood movie. You can read about the reality and the movie at chasingthefrog under their reelfaces link for this movie. It is quite interesting.
The movie is told through the eyes of the FBI operative who was put close to Hanssen and who was very important during the last two months of the investigation that finally caught him. This person is quite real and his name is Eric O'Neill and is played very well by Ryan Phillippe. The focus of the movie is the spy and traitor Robert Hanssen. The performance given here by Chris Cooper is superb and I hope it is recognized when awards are handed out. Chris Cooper is a fantastic actor whose range of characterizations in his many performances is breathtaking. Not only in the type of character, but their ages, in how they look, their intelligence, their moral make-up. He has it all and I enjoy everything I have seen him do.
Hannsen's wife, Bonnie is played very well by Kathleen Quinlan, and it is her devout faith that adds such a contradiction to Hannsen's character and motivation. It would be easy to paint Hannsen as using his religion cynically. However, while he certainly violated the tenets of his faith, it is clear that he holds his faith close, even while engaging in many seriously bad and compromised behaviors (beyond the spying). O'Neill's immediate superior and FBI handler Kate Burroughs and played very well by Laura Linney. She is tough enough to use O'Neill unsympathetically and yet has enough sense to know when she is pushing too hard and when to take a different tact with her inside guy.
I enjoyed this movie very much. It is smart and doesn't cheat by giving us a simple answer to the puzzle. Just as in real life, we do not know Hanssen's true motivations. Even Hanssen may not understand them. We do know he cost real people their lives and compromised the United States in profound ways. He is justly spending 23 hours per day in solitary confinement.
Movie Review: I want to make History
Summary: 5 Stars
Breach DVD
Breach is based on a true story. An FBI trainee is assigned to spy on a veteran Agent who it turns out is selling secrets to the Soviets.
The Robert Hanssen spying case, was -- it is so clear now -- the harbinger of 9/11, a big honking symptom of the entrenched, institutional problems at the FBI that let big clues slip by, clues that might have prevented the horrors of that day. Robert Hanssen, career FBI agent, was intel, and, as Hanssen (Chris Cooper) explains to the agent wannabe assigned to work as his assistant, Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), the intel side of the FBI gets no respect. And, oh, don't get Hanssen started on the lack of interagency cooperation between the FBI and the CIA. Peter Travers
Eric O'Neill, played by Ryan Philippe becomes discouraged with his FBI career and he goes to his father to discuss whether he should quit. His father tells him the philosophy of his seafaring father, which is an analogy for life. "Get on the boat, do your job, and get back home'. Eric O'Neill is a surveillance-operative for the FBI and his goal is to be promoted to a full Agent. One day he is called into a meeting with Agent Burroughs, played by Laura Linney. She tells him he is being assigned to the desk of Robert Hanssen, and that Hanssen is suspected of posting sexual content on the Internet. His job will be to watch Hanssen's every move and to report back to Burroughs. Within a short while O'Neill doubts his job, as he has come to respect Hanssen.
O'Neill confronts Burroughs and the real story is told. Hanssen has been feeding top secret information to enemies for twenty years, and the damage is in the millions of dollars and dozens of lives. Now O'Neill finds himself pitted against one of the finest minds in the FBI.
The drama and suspense in this movie is overwhelming. This story is partially known as the story begins. However, the story progresses and the life of Robert Hanssen is laid bare. The power of the finale is superb. We are left to wonder about the man Hanssen at the end. This is a story of the real world of politics and espionage. The real story is that of the relationship that develops between O'Neill and Hanssen. The mind games that are played are essential to the whole. Chris Cooper is phenomenal as Hanssen. One of the better acting roles I have seen this year. Ryan Philippe playing O'Neill is the perfect foil.
Recommended for fans of spy thrillers.
Gunner January, 2008
Movie Review: Great spy movie without any need for violence
Summary: 5 Stars
I finally got around to seeing "Breach" last night, and am very happy I didn't let this one slip by me - having missed it in theatres.
One thing I really liked about this film was that it dealt with a very brief period of time - about 2 months prior to and leading up to the case being concluded against Robert Hansen. No dwelling in the characters' respective pasts - it just jumps right into the drama and it never lets up or gets boring. There is a nail bite-inducing sequence in just about every segment - whether it takes place at the offices of the CIA, the outskirts of Washington D.C., or at someone's home.
I had anticipated more violent death scenes of U.S. Operatives, but am glad to report there are none to speak of. Just a couple Russian contacts are shown being executed during a quick sequence recalling the past incident. The movie did not need violence to achieve what it does. Just the suggestion of how many lives Hansen gave up during his dealings of espionage are enough. You're allowed to imagine just how the demise of these agents came about.
The characrer portrayals are also top-notch. Chris Cooper is spell-binding as the traitor Robert Hansen. He chills a room by just walking into it. Ryan Phillipe is also in top form as the young gun with his eye on becoming an Agent. The interaction between the two is full of tension as one attempts to gather evidence against the other in a ruse of friendship and mentorship. Laura Linney - although in a relatively minor role - is excellent as the career woman hell-bent on busting Hansen and vindicating her life's work in the CIA which has been compromised by Hansen the whole time.
Although the viewer knows the fate of Hansen before even beginning to watch this film, the way in which the story is concluded is nevertheless nothing short of exciting.
Just to back-track slightly... the opening of the film - which is actual footage of former Attorney General Ashcroft making the announcement that the traitor Hansen has been caught - was a brilliant sequence. Ashcroft makes mention of how the case only underscores how The United States is "still" a target from outside forces who mean to do the country harm. This was February of 2001......... we were soon to find out just how true those words were.
An excellent film all-around.
Movie Review: The life of another liar
Summary: 5 Stars
Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), a young FBI employee who is desperate to become an agent, is assigned to spy on Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper), a top FBI agent, family man and devout Catholic, who also happens to have been selling government secrets to the Russians for the past 16 years.
"Breach" is writer/director Billy Ray's second film as director and touches on many of the same themes as his first film, "Shattered Glass" (about fabulist Stephen Glass). Both films are based on the true stories of men whose whole lives were based on falsehoods and both films deal with the downfall and resulting implications of their demise for these men and those around them. Being a huge fan of "Shattered Glass", it came as no surprise to me that I also liked "Breach". In a way, the strong similarities between "Shattered Glass" and "Breach" detracted from "Breach", since I would have liked to see Billy Ray extend himself more. Nevertheless, "Breach" is still a great film.
Although Robert Hanssen was a traitor to his country, instead of portraying him as a man who is purely evil, he is portrayed as a weak man who still has some good features. That is, he is portrayed as a human being, albeit a flawed one, rather than a cardboard cut-out villain. Chris Cooper gives an excellent performance in this role. This isn't the first film I've seen him in (in fact, it's the seventh), but it's the first time that I've really taken any notice of him.
The script of this film is also great, if a little bit by-the-book (its structure follows that given in screenwriting texts to the letter, not that that's a bad thing). When you think about it, a film about one man spying on his boss has the potential to be completely boring. Yet, Ray turns this into a well-written, well-paced thriller with plenty of moments of genuine tension. Several of the scenes in the film seem far too cinematic to be true, which makes me wonder how close this film kept to the fact. Nevertheless, even if this film turns out to be 95% fiction, that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a highly enjoyable movie that will make you think.