February is a bad month for movies.
It seems as though the studios save the best for last, hoarding their hotly anticipated films until the autumnal months, leaving the rest of the year with the dregs. That’s why I was so excited to see Breach. It seems like an intelligent thriller that would wash away recent memories of Ghost Rider and The Astronaut Farmer. It isn’t.
Breach is another in the long line of films that show us that compiling a great cast, a compelling plot and an able director doesn’t always guarantee a winning result. The wasted potential is mind-numbing.
Breach tells the true story of the most dangerous spy in the history of the FBI. The lucky man who earned that peach of a title is Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper). He slipped secrets to the Soviet Union and, in the process, cost the United States millions of dollars. He was also behind the execution of several FBI agents who were infiltrating the Soviet government.
As the film opens, the FBI is aware of Hanssen’s double-life, but they need to catch him dropping information to the Russians in order to secure a life sentence for espionage. Enter Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe), a brilliant, hunky (of course) agent who is brought in to help catch Hanssen in the act.
O’Neill acts as Hanssen’s assistant at FBI headquarters, all the while monitoring everything that Hanssen says or does. Hanssen is not an easy man to work with. He is devoutly religious, and practices his Catholic faith in an imposing way, enforcing strict order in prayer and in the office. He is unbearably uptight: He doesn’t drink, curse or smoke, and he never misses daily Mass.
Initially, O’Neill sees Hanssen’s strange demeanor as harmless, and even begins to respect him, until his superior, Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney), feeds him even more information. Apparently, Hanssen’s happy home-life is a sinister charade. Along with being at the center of one of the biggest security breaches in United States history, Hanssen also happens to be a so-called “sexual deviant” with a penchant for voyeurism.
As O’Neill continues to peel back the layers of Hanssen’s prickly facade, he begins to realize the true gravity of the situation.
Now, that summary might have piqued your interest. That’s the problem. The plot is ripped from the headlines and includes sex, betrayal and high tech gadgetry; all the ingredients for a fun, if mindless, blockbuster that leaves you primed for popcorn. However, somewhere in the process of making the film, the project lost all energy. There’s no movie-making joy. The actors do what they can with the limp material, but it feels like Director Billy Ray phoned this one in, choosing a paint-by-numbers thriller over the high octane rollercoaster audiences expect.
Chris Cooper, who has a reputation for connecting with unconventional characters and delivering pitch-perfect performances, does his best to convey the weary heart of a troubled man. The problem is that his character never gets the attention he deserves. The film seems much more interested in detailing the maudlin marital discord of Phillippe’s character. Why the audience should be interested in a couple with no apparent chemistry and snooze-worthy “arguments” is anyone’s guess. If you ask me, they should have spent more time getting under Hanssen’s skin and less time getting under ours with these yapping yuppies.
Laura Linney is usually a joy to watch. In recent years, she’s bounced from one great role to another, only to land on this underdeveloped dud. Her character has little to do aside from leering at Ryan Phillippe with steely resolve.
Am I being a little too harsh on this February release? Perhaps. After all, memories of 2006’s masterworks like The Departed, Pan’s Labyrinth and Little Miss Sunshine are still hanging in the air. It’s easy to forget that movies can simply be okay when we’ve just closed the book on a slew of great ones. But that’s all Breach is: okay. Its primary purpose, it seems, is to whet our appetite for the real winners that will start arriving in the coming months.
If you want to spend your money on last year’s left-overs, go right ahead. If not, I suggest you skip this forgettable film and invest in one of last year’s best on DVD.
