Breach

Breach (Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert) — Chris Cooper is hauntingly authentic, creepy, and practically admirable as FBI counter-intelligence agent-turned-Russian spy in this compelling tale of the FBI.  In a way that The Good Shepherd failed, Breach delivers intrigue and fear, adventure and deception into a taut drama. Cooper plays Robert Hanssen, “a man that matters,” but who long ago turned his patriotism into betrayal just to show his agency that he was smarter than all of them and to prove he was right about the holes in their system.  The case cracks thanks to the efforts of one would-be agent, Eric O’Neill, played by the emerging Ryan Philippe.  Philippe, recently separated from Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, gives his encore performance to Crash and Flags of Our Fathers as he matures into one fine actor.  The worst espionage in American history is revealed through the efforts of 50 FBI staffers under the leadership of a dedicated agent played by the exceptional Laura Linney, who was carrying out the plan to trap Hanssen for FBI Director Louis Freeh.  The story is eerily true and helped to lower the public opinion of the FBI at the same time as it exposed the gaps in America’s infrastructure.  This is a gripping tale whose insight is obvious and whose message is scary.  This one is well worth the price of admission for the performances.