Breach (2007)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

A Masterpiece!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Breach is a wonderful, slow-burning thriller based on the worst breach in American history. It also goes along well as a cat-and-mouse thriller between the undercover FBI agent, O'Neill and the suspected man himself, Robert Hanssen. Even though the film is a work of fiction, it provides lots of information about the actual events, and I learned a lot that way. The film goes a good job in building up the tension, despite knowing exactly how the film is going to end. The film is well-acted and provides a strong script.Billy Ray's film is about an FBI agent named Eric O'Neill who desperately wants a promotion and he seizes his chance when he is tasked to get close to a senior agent named Robert Hanssen who has also been labeled as a sexual deviant but it is also believed he is selling secrets to the Soviets. While undercover, the task proves to be hard as O'Neill begins to grow fond of the man and is facing issues at home because of his new boss.The film is well-acted especially from Chris Cooper who gives a tour-de-force performance as Robert Hanssen. Cooper gives a strong amount of a cunning and untrustworthy personality and it gave me the creeps sometimes as I felt he could see through O'Neill's identity. Ryan Phillippe gives a good performance as the young O'Neill who eventually became a hero of the FBI. Laura Linney also does well as the stern, no-nonsense boss of O'Neill.Overall, Breach is a chilling story depicting the worst espionage any American have committed in history. It shows just how vulnerable our secrets can be, especially in the wrong hands. I like how the film also turned into a deep character study focusing on the Catholicism of Hanssen. This is a fantastic film, although it's a bit of a slow burner. I rate this film 9/10.

Whenever a film I am about to watch is prefaced by the legend 'based on a true story' or a variation of such, my heart sinks. And usually it sinks with good reason. The legend is almost always a studio device to acquire a little something extra for its film, usually duplicitously, which it doesn't deserve. Breach, thank goodness, is the exception which proves the rule.Robert Hannsen, here admirably and interestingly played by Chris Cooper, was a real-life traitor who is now serving life without parole in jail for his treachery. We also know that he was or purported to be - given the unfathomable enigma he presents to this day, how can we know what is true? - a devout Roman Catholic, that he secretly taped videos of himself having sex with his wife and passed the tapes on to a friend, and that to date his only apparent motive for betraying his country and colleagues was money.So far so enigmatic and the raw material of Hannsen's treachery could have made any number of different kinds of films. Director Billy Ray and his scriptwriters take that material and make a rather good film. (I was, by the way, encouraged to watch Breach when I saw that it also stars Laura Linney - I have, to date, not seen her in anything but good and interesting films.) Without grandstanding, fake excitement, car chases or gratuitous sex and violence Ray has made an engrossing film which doesn't strike a single wrong note and oozes suspense - even though we all know what's going to happen. And that in my book constitutes a class act. We are drawn into Ryan Phillippe's dilemma that he cannot tell his wife the truth about his work even though it is in danger of doing serious damage to his marriage. We are drawn into Cooper's weirdly paranoid world and even allowed a suggestion at what might have set him on the road to treachery. But these elements are admirably played - there is no fake drama at all.So sorry all you guys and gals who like a bit of 'action' in your 'spy' films, you ain't going to get it with Breach. But you will get and intelligent, quite gripping drama of a kind not often made.

In 2001, the FBI clerk Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), who is a specialist in computer but wants to be an agent, is invited by agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) to work with the senior agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) that had worked for many years in Soviet Union and now is assigned to protect the agency against electronic infiltration. Kate tells to Eric to write down the behavior of Hanssen in notes and send them to her since Hanssen would be a pervert under investigation of his sexual behavior.Eric works with the bitter and rough Hanssen and he finds a family man and devout Catholic who earns his respect instead of a deviant. Further, his investigation and his relationship with Hanssen and his wife Bonnie (Kathleen Quinlan) affects Eric's wife Juliana (Caroline Dhavernas). Eric tells his opinion to Kate and she decides to tell the truth about Hanssen to him: he is a mole that sold many secrets to the Soviet Union and has compromised the identity of dozens of agents. Eric decides to go on in his assignment despite his friendship with Hanssen and the problems in his marriage."Breach" is an engaging and dramatic spy movie based on the true story of an FBI agent that was arrested for spying on 20 February 2001. I bought this DVD many years ago and only yesterday I decided to watch it and I found a great film.The plot is developed in adequate pace and supported by magnificent performances of Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe and Laura Linney. The duel between Eric O'Neill and Robert Hanssen is fantastic. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Quebra de Confiança" ("Fail in Confidence")

This is a poor movie. Apart from Chris Cooper, the performances are not convincing. The script is flat and never feels authentic. The direction is very un--inspiring. Laura Linney is mis-cast here....but even allowing for that, she makes some shocking elementary mistakes. When she is in conversation she comes in TOO quickly with her replies. Robert Altman would have been appalled. Ryan Phillippe is completely lacking in any kind of realism...the audience always painfully aware he is acting. This may have made a good stage play (completely re-written of course), but perhaps the truth is some true stories don't make for good entertainment. Particularly when most of the actors are terrible...and the script is lousy.