by Harry Tournemille

Created on: March 02, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Considering all the critical praise, I was surprised at how pedestrian this film was upon viewing. In spite of Chris Cooper's strong performance and the occasional movie "trick", Breach is as straightforward a film as you could expect: linear in its delivery and predictable in its outcome.

There were elements to this film that I did enjoy. For a quick synopsis, the film revolves around a veteran FBI agent, Hanssen (Chris Cooper) suspected of the largest security breach in American history, and a young up and coming recruit (Ryan Philippe) thrown into the task of helping bring the rogue agent down. Right away you know the outcome, though I will not reveal it here. The director does a reasonable job of keeping suspense, using good pacing and revealing details in increments. There are scenes where Hanssen seems to read every room, every person, every detail within seconds, leaving the viewer anticipating confrontation. Also, Ryan Philippe plays the intelligent, yet novice recruit with alacrity too, showing frustration and concern over his inferiority in a believable manner. But this is not enough to save the film.

The problem with taking high profile cases and turning them into films is that most people know the ending already. So, the task of the director and screenwriter then is to reveal insight into the characters to create empathy with the audience and perhaps an explanation. Hanssen's reasons for his actions, his internal conflict about his decisions, were all necessary to the story but never completely delivered. Breach certainly starts off in the right way, making it seem like the fuss over Hanssen is unfounded, mean spirited, but the evidence was not convincing. Even when a few lines of explanation are added at the end of the film as to why Hanssen did what he did, it amounts to laziness more than revelation, telling us why instead of showing us. And this laziness points to weak story-telling, typical film-making.

In all fairness, there are a lot worse films out there, so I won't go so far as to say it was horrible. And it is difficult to make a good film from a predetermined story. But the real question is, why bother making this film at all? What does this film say about human nature, about society, about people in general? What does it have to offer the viewer other than simplified entertainment. Not very much, in my opinion. The potential for complexity was there, but in my mind, the director and producers took the easy route and made it just another product of the big Hollywood machine.

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