|
Directed by: Billy Ray Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Gary Cole, Dennis Haysbert Breach is a modern spy film surrounding the true story of how rookie F.B.I. intern Erik O'Neill posed as an assistant to catch the notorious notorious veteran F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen, who sold millions of dollars of F.B.I. information to the Soviet Union. I had the opportunity to preview this film on February 9th at a premiere at Auburn University. The actual Erik O’Neill, an esteemed Auburn alumnus, was present and provided autographs and a question and answer session following the film. Ryan Phillippe holds the emotional weight of the film as Erik O’Neill, the intern tasked with catching Hanssen. He does an adequate job, though he is far out shadowed by Chris Cooper, who plays the brooding Robert Hanssen, whom the film is ultimately about. As usual, Cooper is fantastic and manages to portray the antagonist with such humanity that we almost wish he wouldn’t be caught. The rest of the supporting cast, including 24’s Dennis Haysbert and Gary Cole (of Office Space fame) do their jobs adequately enough, though none provides a standout performance. While most directors would turn a story of this magnitude into an adrenaline fueled romp pitting the two moles against each other while steadily increasing the tension (The Departed, The Recruit, ect.), director Billy Ray takes a different approach to the material. Like his previous true-life story flick Shattered Glass (2003), he attempts to stay as close to the facts as possible, meticulously crafting a film not too far from a docudrama. Nearly every scene from the film, save for the climax in the woods, is presented accurately according to Erik O’Neill. This technique is what ultimately is the selling point and flaw in Breach. While the true story is absolutely fascinating, the director stays so close to the source material that any tension that could be generated is alleviated by the ending which is stated within the first thirty seconds of the film. The enjoyment the audience will garner from the film truly hinges on how interested they are in the true story. Ultimately, Breach is a character piece, not a spy thriller. It is a fascinating examination of the lives of those in the F.B.I., their fears, their hopes, their daily mundane activities, and their motives. RATING: 3.5 PROS: Accurate Retelling of True Story, Good Acting, Chris Cooper CONS: Aggravatingly Slow at Times, Unneeded Hollywood Climax, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401997/ Aldenard fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Feb 19, 2007 |
#
?
Feb 19, 2007 09:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:51 |
|
|
I disagree that the tension is gone because we know the ending. I found the movie to be very intense, because I was so curious as to HOW they end up catching Hannsen. There is so much working against Philippe's character, yet we still know that somehow he will be able to catch Hannsen in the end. With Hannsen consistantly having the upper hand (experience, cunning, and espionage skills), it seems impossible for a rookie agent to bring him down. And I felt Erik's apprehension right along with him as he attempted to do so. That's what made the movie so fascinating to me. I think it was the great script that made Erik's task seem so real, uncertain, and interesting, even though we know the eventual outcome. The interaction between the two characters was superbly tense and interesting. And Chris Cooper played his role perfectly. He was able to show both a cold side and a warm side. A mysterious intimidating side, and a kinder everyman side. He portrayed such a complex, real person. I can't say enough good things about Cooper in this movie. And I didn't find the movie too slow at all. I was glued all the way through. I really liked this movie. Rating: 4.5
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2007 18:02
|
|
|
the previews made this out to be so much better than it actually was. breach is a terrible, terrible film, it is so terrible that it ventures into the so-bad-that-its-good territory. as I watched, I could not help but feel that the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 guys would have a field day with it. The acting from the compromised agent (Chris Cooper) and the guy tasked with taking him down (Ryan Phillippe) was good, but the supporting cast was ridiculously weak, particularly the wooden delivery from Laura Linney. Phillippe's girlfirend (Caroline Dhavernas) breaking into an irish accent for just one scene had the theater roaring. the bump on Phillippe's head held my attention more than anything else in the film, and Cooper's overtly obvious red lipstick was also an eyesore. furthermore, the director could not decide whether he was making a drama or a comedy, and instead of phasing from one to the other over the course of the film, it wildly fluctuated - making it impossible to take the suffering of the characters seriously after they had been behaving like goofy caricatures just a scene earlier. the lines were awkward and I cringed in pity towards Cooper and Phillippe as they (admirably) tried to salvage a too-sparse-to-believe scipt. the best scene - "why did the soviet union fall? -godlessness. (PERIOD)" was already shown in the trailers. all in all this is a great film to go watch with your friends if you want to re-enact Mystery Science Theater 3000, as the opportunities for mockery here are boundless.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2007 01:45
|
|
|
I was pretty bored. Don't get me wrong, I adore a good character drama, but I didn't feel like there was enough going on here to really keep me hooked. It seemed to move pretty slowly. Also, I didn't feel at all engaged in the relationship between O'Neill (Philippe) and his wife, nor in her character (who is repeatedly stated as Russian and played by a Montreal actress, contrary to the above poster's review). Most of her scenes felt cliched and as if they were simply taken directly from other movies; worse, her actions and emotions didn't feel justified in this movie. It's as if the writer thought, "Okay, this is how the wife acts in this situation, according to other movies I've seen, so this must be how she should act in this movie," but didn't understand that there had to be some build-up to give her motivation to act this way. Or maybe there were some additional scenes that would offer better explanation, but they were deleted. Not terrible, but not riveting. 3/5: "Okay."
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2007 22:37
|
|
|
Good movie, excellent job by Chris Cooper, but a tad slow pretty much throughout the whole movie. There were a couple of tense moments, but they were over too quickly. Really, the only excellent thing about this was the job Chris Cooper did ... everything else was rather average - 3/5.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2007 07:31
|
|
