Breach Movie Review
Yesterday I went down to my local cineplex and cought a flick. The flick was Breach, starring Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe. In this movie, Chris Cooper plays Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who is selling secrets to the Soviet Union, and Ryan Phillippe plays Eric O'Neill, and upstart FBI agent assigned to his case.
Now, this thing is tagged as sort of a political thriller, and while it does focus on one of the worst security breaches in US history, it "thrills" us in a different way than a movie normally tagged a thriller does. The only term I can find that expresses the feeling this movie has is "quiet strength." It doesn't have any action, it's all character interaction and implications that spawn from those interactions, but it's still really good. For being somewhat of a "slow" movie, it kept me glued to my seat almost the whole time. The reason: Chris Cooper. He did an absolutely phenomenal job in this role. He is such a talented actor, and it really showed here.
As far as what I liked, I thought it was very well acted by everyone involved, and that really helped move it. I liked it's "quiet strength." I thought the interaction between Ryan Phillippe and Cooper was great. They really sold the ackward feeling the whole time. And of course, Chris Cooper's acting, easily the best part of the movie. His character was really interesting too; very multi-faceted and hard to put your finger on. Also, the fact that it was a story about American history that was told from the intelligence side, and not the "gun culture" side, as Cooper calls it throughout the movie. What I didn't like was the lack of climax. It didn't really peak anywhere, not even when they caught him. Also, the fact that they plainly said he was caught him in the beginning took away any suspense building. I mean, you know that he eventually gets caught, but when they do that, you can't let yourself be fooled anymore. I just didn't like it. Other than that though, it was a pretty darn good movie.
On the Reganometer, I give this movie a 7 out of 10, and say if you like movies that snowball from character development, and don't mind a bit of a slow pace, it's worth seeing. I liked it a lot. Chris Cooper is another reason to go. It's one of those movies that's good, but not great, and you'll enjoy, but forget about a week later.
2 comments:
Kev,
Thriller does not mean an action movie -- rather a suspenseful mystery of any kind. In regard to giving away the ending, the movie is marketed as an intelligent spy movie based on the true story of notorious traitor, Robert Hanssen. Since this was a huge news event just about 5 years ago, and his conviction was even more recent, the filmmakers most likely assumed most of their intended adult audience knew the ending. Thus the intelligent, character-driven script which focuses on the psychological aspects of the story instead of the plot-driven whodunnit -- which the older audience members already knew. Liked your review overall. Just giving my feedback.
I don't know though, I mean, thriller normally means thrills, as in gasps and surprises and lots of palpable tension. This thing had tension, sure, but everything was just toned down it seemed like.
I agree with your point about the history ruining the potential suspense though. I guess I didn't do my research, 'cause I had never heard of this before.
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