Product Description

Inspired by true events Breach is a gripping and intense thriller that takes you deep inside the halls of the FBI for a top-secret investigation to uncover the greatest breach in the history of US intelligence. Featuring powerful performances by Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe nothing is as it seems in this suspenseful action packed film that will keep you riveted until the climactic ending.Runtime: 111 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 025193227621 Manufacturer No: 61032276

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2990 in DVD
• Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com
Is a mystery really mysterious when the end isn't a secret? Is espionage still thrilling when you know beforehand that the cloak has been pulled back and the dagger revealed? If it's a film as good as Breach, the answer is a resounding yes. Here is a true story that's genuinely stranger than fiction: FBI agent Robert Hanssen spent over 20 years selling government secrets to the Russians, making him the most egregious traitor in U.S. history. He was an Opus Dei Catholic and a devout churchgoer who was also a sexual deviant, a straitlaced company man so trusted by his employers that they once appointed him to lead an investigation designed to reveal who the spy was--when in fact it was Hanssen himself. And in the end, he was brought down in part by 26-year-old Eric O'Neill, an agent-in-training who worked with him for just two months. Chris Cooper, a 2003 supporting actor Oscar winner for Adaptation, is brilliant in the lead role, playing Hanssen as a dour, cold, ultraconservative cipher (women in pantsuits are just one of his peeves) whose conversations more closely resemble interrogations. Ryan Phillippe is also excellent as O'Neill, who's initially kept in the dark by the superior (Laura Linney) who assigned him to help expose Hanssen's treachery; thinking he's been brought in only to gather evidence about his boss' sexual transgressions, O'Neill finds himself caught in a profound moral conundrum, grudgingly admiring Hanssen even as his own marriage is severely tested by the older man's creepy and hypocritical intrusion into their lives, not to mention the FBI's strict rules against discussing the case.

Director Billy Ray (whose previous feature was also a true story: Shattered Glass, about the young writer who fabricated stories for The New Republic) and co-screenwriters Adam Mazer and William Rotko do an extraordinary job of maintaining the tension as the story leads to the conclusion that's been revealed in the first few frames (i.e., Hanssen's arrest in February 2001); the exquisite torture of O'Neill's having to keep Hanssen distracted while Bureau technicians search the latter's car is but one example. Moreover, notwithstanding the plot developments, the filmmakers manage to keep their focus on the personal interactions that are the film's key element: the relationships that O'Neill maintains with Hanssen, his father (a cameo by Bruce Davison), his wife (Caroline Dhavernas), and others are entirely credible. At once fascinating and horrifying, Breach is inarguably one of the best films of 2007. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Chris Cooper is great . . .
This intelligent, well-directed/well-written film is about the famous contemporary spy for the Russians, Robert Hanssen - an FBI agent selling secrets for over 20 years until caught.

Besides telling a great story, veteran actor Chris Cooper (you might not even recognize the name, but you'll know him when you see him) turns in a sterling performance as the quirky, smart, religious Hanssen. He "makes the movie" in my opinion and is fascinating to watch and analyze as he works through this. I don't know the personality of the real Robert Hanssen, but Cooper's interpretation of him is golden.

Kudos to Ryan Phillipe as the young counter-spy, Eric O'Neill, who brings down Hanssen. Laura Linney does a credible job as O'Neill's boss in the FBI's counter-spy operation.

As a refreshing change, this is a "police movie", without all of the over-the-top fake bravado and continual pistol waving. Thoughtful, intelligent, extremely interesting. A pleasant surprise - recommended.

The great acting cannot overcome the pace
Breach is a classic espionage movie. Eric O'Neill (Ryan Philippe) is sent to work on the daunting task of spying on a spy. He's paired with a veteran agent named Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper). Initially, O'Neill is given the assignment by Agent Burroughs (Laura Linney) under the guise that Hanssen has been posting sexual content on the web. Eventually he discovers that Hanssen is involved in something much more despicable.

From there it's a somewhat tense battle of wills as O'Neill, Burroughs, and all involved do whatever they can to uncover the web of lies and deceit being perpetrated by Hanssen, while he does everything he can to hide his intention and his actions.

It's well acted, and the story itself is fairly interesting. If it were a documentary on the History channel, I would have been much more interested - because there would have been many more details. And while I appreciate the fact that it stayed true to the content, there was simply something lacking in the delivery of the story, not to mention the fact that the explanation of Hanssen's actions was nearly absent. Sooner or later there needs to be a little bit of video stimulation to go along with the audio counterpart.

In the end it's a spy movie that falls flat because of bad pacing, painfully slow sequences, long-winded and uninteresting dialogue, and a great deal of disappointment. The movie is coma-inducing during portions of the movie, slower than wheelchair stuck the mud, and much like running on the beach, the arduous effort doesn't seem to be nearly as worthwhile or as running on a flat surface.

Breach
This movie is very good. It showed that even the FBI had one rotten apple. I'm glad the FBI caught Robert Philip Hanssen. I hope there are no more like him.