by Thomas Ferguson

I have to be honest with you, movies about spies and espionage have never really interested me. When I saw the trailers for the new release Breach, I was not impressed. When I was given this assignment I admit, I kind of rolled my eyes, but boy was I judging a book by its cover.

Breach tells the true story of the 2001 capture and conviction of Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper), an FBI agent accused and later convicted of selling sensitive information to Soviet intelligence. He was also responsible for countless informant deaths over the years. The story begins two months prior to his capture, when wanna be agent Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe), is given the difficult task of spying on Hanssen. If successful, he would become a full fledged agent. Unfortunately, he begins to respect and look up to Hanssen, which makes his job all the more difficult.

Adding to this crazy mix, Hanssen begins to think of O’Neill as a friend and to some extent, a son that will do him proud in the federal bureau. Ultimately, Hanssen becomes suspicious and O’Neill finds himself on a race against time to expose his corrupt mentor before his mentor can expose his true intentions.

Like I said earlier, this type of movie never really interested me. For the most part, they deal with politics and intelligence. Believe you me, I’m not that intelligent. I go to movies to escape, not to think. This movie was different.

It was very intelligent, but it made sense. The writers were not trying to make things overly complicated and I appreciated that. It was intriguing and it was somewhat suspenseful. I really got into the story and the fact that it‘s based on a true life story, made it even more intriguing.

Although the story was captivating enough, it was the performances that impressed me the most. Academy Award winning actor Chris Cooper (Adaptation), gave yet another Oscar caliber performance. I know the 2006 Oscars are just around the corner, but I hope his name is remembered a year from now for Best Actor.

Ryan Phillippe gave a career best performance as well. One of my favorite actresses Laura Linney shined once again in the role of an agent in charge of the task force assigned to bring Hanssen down. Dennis Haysbert (24) gave another noteworthy performance as the head of the department assigned to catch Hanssen in the act.

Not the best spy movie I have seen, but one chalk full of great performances that should not be missed.