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Movie Forums :: Reviews :: Breach |
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Posted on 2/20/07
Breach
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It's no big secret that Hollywood glamorizes certain professions. Miami Vice doesn't show us Colin Farrell slaving over stacks of paperwork at his desk, for example. There's an unspoken law which says that the audience is uninterested in the real day-to-day work of most professions. But if the success of shows like CSI tells us anything, it's that audiences get a kick out of seeing what really goes on behind the scenes; especially when it comes to law enforcement.
Breach, which is based on the real-life story of FBI agent-turned-traitor Robert Hanssen, understands this. It is not filled with car chases, the acrobatic avoidance of laser sensors, or Mexican Standoffs. It is psychological; it centers on relationships and cares about nothing more than its characters' motivations. The film's first shot -- a stock video of then Attorney General John Ashcroft's public announcement of Hanssen's arrest -- primes us for a deliberate, realistic look at the situation.
This is not to say that the film is boring. Chris Cooper plays Hanssen with an equal mix of gravitas and paranoia that leaves even the most innocuous exchanges seething with tension. In this role, Cooper is the human embodiment of a Jack-in-the-Box, leaving the audience wondering just when he'll go off.
Whatever tension the film has, however, is tempered by the fact that we already know Hanssen's fate. There is some intrigue in the manner in which it all unfolds, and we obviously don't know what will happen to some of the other characters (such as Ryan Phillipe's Eric O'Neill), but the established conclusion steals some of the film's thunder.
The result is a thriller that works better when it isn't trying to thrill. The film sporadically grasps this, and spends a fair amount of time analyzing the machinations of Hanssen's mind. How, we wonder, could someone so intelligent and devout go so wrong? The film, to its credit, does answer this question satisfactorily, though it does so in a very off-hand way, as if Hanssen's motivations were not the movie's focus.
As a character study, and as a psychological drama, Breach excels. It falls flat, however, when it goes all Pelican Brief on us. The bounces between the two are schizophrenic, and the film seems unsure of what it wants to be. Picture Jaime Foxx analyzing fiber samples (CSI: Miami Vice?), and you'll have a picture of the tonal argument this movie has with itself.
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