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Movies / On DVD / Breach
Breach

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Breach (2007)

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Reviews Counted:170

Fresh:142

Rotten:28

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: Powered by Chris Cooper's masterful performance, Breach is a tense and engaging portrayal of the FBI's infamous turncoat.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for violence, sexual content and language.

Runtime: 3 hrs 42 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:31-08-2007

Synopsis: Chris Cooper (ADAPTATION) gives a remarkable performance as complicated and bitter FBI agent Robert Hanssen in BREACH. Hanssen is a computer specialist who, after 25 years of service, is put under... Chris Cooper (ADAPTATION) gives a remarkable performance as complicated and bitter FBI agent Robert Hanssen in BREACH. Hanssen is a computer specialist who, after 25 years of service, is put under surveillance as a suspected sex offender. Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe, CRASH) is the ambitious young upstart they put on the job, assigning him to pose as Hanssen's new clerk in order to win his trust and keep an eye on his every move. Eric is dismayed to be put on such low-priority detail, accustomed as he is to investigating high-profile terrorism suspects. His reluctance is multiplied as he gets to know the subject of his inquiry; Hanssen is at first harsh towards his young secretary, but as he opens up, Eric gets to know and respect him as a family man of strong Catholic faith. Soon, however, Hanssen is infiltrating Eric's personal life and causing problems between him and his wife, Juliana (Caroline Dhavernas, HOLLYWOODLAND), and just when Eric is about to give up the case, he discovers that it is much bigger than he ever imagined. Eric finds himself in the middle of an investigation into the biggest security breach in U.S. history, forcing him to resort to dramatic and ingenious tactics in order to bring down the suspect. Director Billy Ray's first directorial effort was the dramatization of the Stephen Glass scandal at the D.C. magazine The New Republic in SHATTERED GLASS, and here he once again turns his eye--with great success--to a true story with a complex villain. Cooper's excellent characterization invites pity and horror in equal measure; his performance is well supported in this character-driven thriller by Laura Linney (KINSEY) as the hard-nosed agent leading the investigation, and Phillippe as the resourceful and introspective O'Neill. [More]

Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Kathleen Quinlan, Laura Linney

Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Kathleen Quinlan, Laura Linney, Gary Cole, Dennis Haysbert, Caroline Dhavernas, Bruce Davison

Director: Billy Ray

Director: Billy Ray
Producer: Scott Kroopf
Composer: Mychael Danna
Studio: Universal Pictures

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Reviews for Breach

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

I can imagine no better man [than Chris Cooper] to play the enigma at the center of Breach.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
02/16/07
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

It's all about chemistry, and Cooper and Phillippe have it.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
02/16/07
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

A thriller with no thrills, a true story minus a single interesting truth, a real-life tale with all the fascination scraped off to leave only a residue of tedious facts.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
02/16/07
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

Tense, understated and often funny spy thriller about a real-life CIA traitor.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment 2 Comments
02/16/07
Caroline Kepnes
Caroline Kepnes
E! Online

Breach is the sort of studiously serious, well-made, based-on-fact film that critics go crazy for and audiences find earnestly dull and eminently avoidable.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
02/16/07
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

Breach is a good cloak-and-dagger tale and telling this complex story through O'Neill proves a brilliant way to watch Hanssen's schemes unravel.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
02/16/07
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

A spellbinding real-life suspense thriller so incredible that even Hollywood couldn't make it up.

Full Review Source: Maxim | comment Comment
02/16/07
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Maxim

Better-focused than The Good Shepherd, and its story is more interesting.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
02/16/07
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

We know from the outset that Hanssen, brilliantly played by Chris Cooper, is guilty. What we don't know is how the FBI caught him, and that's what director Billy Ray's carefully detailed and absorbing movie tells us.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
02/16/07
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

It's not just that Breach looks terrific compared with the dreck Hollywood has thrown on screen so far this year, though there is that. No, Breach has the early-season intelligence and intriguing casting of last year's Inside Man.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
02/16/07
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post

This isn't one of those labyrinthine works of deception that doubles back on itself at every turn. Breach is content to tell a strong story with the utmost efficiency and let its cast do the heavy lifting.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
02/16/07
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News

About the only thing ineffective about Breach is the humdrum title. Everything else in this smart thriller works like a perfectly crafted Latin Square puzzle.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 1 Comment
02/16/07
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen is now serving a life sentence for his long career as a Russian and Soviet spy, but this rote thriller implies he should have done prison time just for being Catholic.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 2 Comments
02/16/07
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

Cooper captures all of [Hanssen's] complexities and more, encapsulating in one performance a hard-assed boss, exasperated techno geek, amusing old-fashioned conservative and loving family man.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
02/16/07
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

tersely written and directed... Although there are suspenseful sequences in this compelling story, Ray and Cooper concentrate on the moral confusion surrounding the key players in the Hanssen scandal.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
02/16/07
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

Rather than being a high-action thriller, Breach is more of a slow burn through the night.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
02/16/07
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

There's precious little espionage where we can see it, and that's what makes the movie such a compelling and eerily effective little drama.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
02/16/07
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Powerhouse performances by Chris Cooper and Laura Linney highlight this taut political thriller.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
02/16/07
Tyler Hanley
Tyler Hanley
Palo Alto Weekly

...the first really interesting film of this still new year.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
02/16/07
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Ray isn't beyond teasing out implications from his true stories, but he's also smart enough to know where to quit, allowing the viewer to resolve the whys and wherefores.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
02/16/07
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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Latest News for Breach

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