Breach

PG-13

2/12/20071h 50m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ How one man betrayed the security of a nation. ~

Overview:

Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpected promotion and assignment to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a renowned senior agent with 25 years in the FBI. However, he soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country. Determined to draw the suspected double-agent out of deep cover, O'Neill finds himself in a lethal game of spy vs. spy, where nothing is as it seems.

Director:

Billy Ray

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$23,000,000.00

Revenue:

$41,000,000.00

Key words:

undercover
spy
fbi
loyalty
suspicion
ambition
based on true story
double agent
surveillance
roman catholic church
political thriller
surveillance specialist
2000s
international espionage
fbi surveillance
surly man
fbi headquarters
highly intelligent

Cast

Chris Cooper

~ as ~

Robert Hanssen

Ryan Phillippe

~ as ~

Eric O'Neill

Laura Linney

~ as ~

Kate Burroughs

Caroline Dhavernas

~ as ~

Juliana O'Neill

Gary Cole

~ as ~

Rich Garces

Dennis Haysbert

~ as ~

Dean Plesac

Kathleen Quinlan

~ as ~

Bonnie Hanssen

Bruce Davison

~ as ~

John O'Neill

Jonathan Watton

~ as ~

Geddes

Tom Barnett

~ as ~

Jim Olsen

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 10 month(s) ago
7
Though never really very versatile, Ryan Philippe delivers quite well in this fact-based drama about one of the most famous cases of espionage to ever happen in the USA. O'Neill is a tech specialist with aspirations to be an agent who is selected by Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) for a very unique task. He is to work with the long established Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) on devising new ways to keep their systems safe from hackers. What we, and they, know is that Hanssen is suspected of being a mole, and a pretty darned substantial one at that. It's going to fall to O'Neill to try and find a way past the formidable defences of his new boss in the hope that they can entrap him. This won't be an easy task as Hanssen is a shrewd man, probably the most shrewd in the Bureau. Obviously this is a top secret mission, so he can't tell wife Juliana (Catherine Dhavernas) anything about what's going on - and that puts predictable strain on their marriage, especially as he begins to make some progress on a mark who likes nothing better than cat and mouse games - even with his own side! The story was huge news so there's not so much jeopardy, nor does Billy Ray really try to manufacture any. It's more a study of characterisations and Philippe and Cooper perform quite strongly on that front with some lively tit-for-tat dialogue and smouldering views on repressed religiosity. It could maybe lose ten minutes, but once it gets going it's quite a well paced thriller worth a watch.