In Breach, the weight of the movie rests on the shoulders of stars Ryan Phillippe and Chris Cooper. Unfortunately, only one of them delivers.
Phillippe plays Eric O'Neill, a young FBI operative assigned to clerk for - and spy on - Robert Hanssen (Cooper), who is under investigation for sexual deviance. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and O'Neill soon finds himself in the midst of the biggest security breach in the history of the FBI when he finds out that Hanssen has been selling American intelligence to Russia for years.
Breach manages to avoid many of the pitfalls of other spy movies by keeping the story tight and by focusing on the interactions of the small cast. But it is the consistently creepy Cooper (a master at the suspicious stare) who steals the show as Hanssen. Laura Linney is also notable for her small role as an agent whose entire career has been undone by Hanssen's treachery.
Phillippe is the only disappointment. His O'Neill is a highly competent operative: bold, clever, and dedicated to his job. He's also boring. The character lacks the depth and mystery of Hanssen, and Phillippe can't match Cooper's nuanced performance. Scenes that focus on O'Neill's personal life, particularly the conflicts between he and his wife, feel tacked on and generally fall flat. The movie also lacks creativity in several of its suspenseful scenes, relying on a "close call" scenario, wherein Hanssen nearly catches O'Neill snooping around his office. Breach is admirable for choosing realism and character development over plot twists and fantasy, and it's a solid, entertaining movie overall. Unfortunately, its penchant for formulaic suspense and its failure to flesh out O'Neill bog down its otherwise fresh approach.
